


Journey to the End of the World

by Nicky_Gabriel



Category: Starsky & Hutch
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-01-06 22:47:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1112426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicky_Gabriel/pseuds/Nicky_Gabriel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It is a good thing to have had a friend, even if one is about to die.<br/>I, for instance, am very glad to have had a fox as a friend...”<br/>The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The One with the Crime Scene

**Author's Note:**

> This story was first published in a zine Dangerous Lives, Dangerous Visions, edited by Flamingo.  
> http://fanlore.org/wiki/Dangerous_Lives,_Dangerous_Visions

_July 1981_

As Hutch closed the door after his morning run, the phone rang. He looked at the clock, frowning. Five-thirty wasn’t the best time for phone calls.

“Yeah?” he said into the receiver, smiling at the sound of running water in the bathroom. Apparently stealing Starsky’s bed covers before going on his run had worked. Starsky was already showering -- they’d arrive at the squadroom on time. Starsky must have learned the curses he’d yelled at Hutch from his physical therapist -- a former sailor -- last year. It was the first time Hutch had ever heard all of them used in one sentence.

“Hutch?” the voice from the phone asked loudly.

Hutch recognized the police force operator.

“What’s up, Andy?” he asked, knowing he wouldn’t like what she was going to say. Not this early in the morning. He sat on the coffee table where Starsky had left his new model ship -- _Queen Anne’s Revenge_. The ship was in the first stages of being put together.

“Hutch, there was an accident in one of the Bay City University buildings,” Andrea said. “There are three casualties. Two murders and a possible suicide. Firefighters have already put the fire out in the labs, so you can investigate when you get there.”

“Okay.” Hutch agreed. “We should be there in an hour.”

Andrea hesitated so Hutch waited another moment.

“Dobey says it’s your priority case now,” she added. “One of the victims is the governor’s nephew. Your other cases were assigned to Bernie and Rollins.”

“We treat all our cases with equal commitment,” Hutch said sourly.

“ _I_ know that.”

Hutch only cursed. It wasn’t Andrea’s fault that they had never been the commissioner’s favorite team and, recently, the commissioner had been making his and Starsky’s life hell. The fact that Jerry Brown -- the governor -- was the commissioner’s friend only made it more complicated.

“Thanks, Andy,” he said as an apology.

“I’m logging you in, Hutch,” she said.

Hutch could hear the smile in her voice. “Okay, bye.”

Starsky suddenly appeared, leaning against the door, toweling his hair, already dressed for work. “Who was that?”

“I guess we’ll have to postpone hunting for Martin Caruso for a while. We have a triple murder at the Bay City University,” Hutch said, reaching for the coffee pot.

Starsky grimaced, but looked at Hutch with a sparkle of mischief in his eyes. “You’re still a covers thief, and paybacks are hell, buddy.”

Hutch smiled. Starsky made every morning worth waking up to.

* * *

The university office looked as normal as any other except for the dead body lying across the desk. There were spatters of blood on the wall and the window behind the desk. The window glass was broken where the bullet went through.

Hutch shook his head, trying to suppress his sudden anger at the sight of the dead professor’s corpse. It was the third body they had examined this morning, and he still hadn’t gotten over his first sight of the astronomy lab in the neighboring building an hour ago. That had been far worse than what he was witnessing now.

A warm hand squeezing his shoulder was all the comfort he needed to think like a cop again.

“You okay?” Starsky asked with concern.

“I’m fine,” Hutch said, trying to sound more convincing than he felt.

Starsky nodded once, obviously not fooled by this statement. He lifted his camera and began taking pictures of the crime scene.

The usual police photographer had had a family emergency so Starsky was taking the pictures himself. There was no other photographer available on such short notice. A year ago, Starsky had worked in the police photo lab for several months and was familiar with the necessary procedures. After Starsky had taken shots from every angle, the lab technician started collecting fingerprints from the office.

Hutch looked around, trying to find some reason why Harry Lane, the professor from the astrophysics department, had decided to take his own life. Even worse, why had he killed two of his students earlier in the night? And why had he set fire to their laboratory, destroying not only the expensive equipment, the huge telescope and a computer, but also the results of their research?

“Did he leave a letter?” Hutch asked, looking at Starsky.

Starsky finished perusing the bookshelves and a small table covered with books. All the books were physics related, and many of them looked as if they were at least twenty years old.

“Nope.” Starsky shook his head. “Not here. There’s just one note on the desk with a date, August 27th. The rest of the pages are blank.”

“Detective Starsky?” An older woman with short grey hair stood in the doorway. She looked at Hutch, holding a few sheets of paper in her hand.

Hutch noticed that she avoided looking at Lane’s corpse. He couldn’t blame her for her distress over the crime scene.

“I’m Detective Hutchison,” he said. “What do you have, Miss Templeton?” The Dean’s secretary had greeted them when they arrived at the college, but Hutch had not seen her since then.

“I have the personal information you requested.” She handed him the documents and waited expectantly. “Anything else you will need from me to... proceed?”

“That will be all. Thank you. We will contact you in case we need something else.”

“I’ll be in my office till four in the afternoon.” She turned and left without looking back.

Hutch suspected that she was the sort of person who needed to have everything organized and scheduled. She wasn’t comfortable with unexpected events. It was probably why such an organized woman mixed up their names. Hutch suspected it wouldn’t have happened on a ‘normal’ day. Three violent deaths in one day would disorganize anyone.

Hutch met Starsky’s eyes. His partner nodded toward the data the secretary brought.

“Harry Lane, professor of astrophysics, age 59, single, no children,” Hutch read aloud. “He’s worked for this university since 1965. Earlier, served in Korea and received two Purple Hearts.” He looked up at Starsky, frustrated. This didn’t provide much pertinent detail on the professor, so he read the second resume. “Peter Green, age 24, is single, with no children. He was working on his PhD, and supervising a project with a local high school, ‘Finding Enemies among the Stars’.”

“ _Finding Enemies?_ ” Starsky cut in.

“We’ll figure it out eventually,” Hutch said. “Kyle Allen, age 16, is a high school student. His parents are Ellen and John Allen. He’s participated in the project, ‘Finding Enemies,’ since October 1979.”

“Do we have their addresses?” Starsky took the papers from Hutch.

Hutch watched the lab technician for a moment as Starsky read the rest of the information.

“There are other people listed who also worked on this project,” Starsky said when the coroner walked through the door. “We’ll need to talk to them.” He gave back the paperwork. “Come on, I’m hungry.”

Hutch felt exasperated, but since they hadn’t had much time for breakfast in the morning, he didn’t argue.

The cafeteria wasn’t very crowded. Hutch figured the reason was that most of the students were shocked by last night’s events. Only a few tables were taken when Starsky and Hutch came in to have lunch.

Hutch got in line and selected a salad and orange juice. Starsky waited for the chef to make him a Spanish omelet and chose a carton of chocolate milk.

“Okay, what do we have?” Starsky asked, sprinkling pepper on his omelet.

Hutch just looked at him with a mixture of disgust and admiration. He wasn’t hungry, but the mere fact that his partner was by his side was enough to make him relax even when working on such a case.

“Two young people killed by their teacher, who later -- apparently -- committed suicide,” Hutch said, trying to keep a distance from this case without success. Every time a case involved children, he had a really hard time staying detached. This would be no different.

“There’s no trace of foul play,” Starsky said tapping his finger on the paperwork Miss Templeton had given them.

“If killing two people isn’t foul...”

“You know what I mean, Hutch. We know Lane killed them and nobody else helped him with taking his own life. You read the security records. There’s no way somebody got inside without the guard noticing it. The case is closed.”

“You know it’s not.” Hutch reached for his orange juice. “ _We_ need to know why.”

“We don’t need the knowledge to close the case.” Starsky took a bite of a toast. “With suicide, we hardly ever find the reason unless there’s a letter, and we haven’t found one so far. We still have to go to Lane’s home, but it’s unlikely he left one there, considering he had no family to find it. Everything important to him was in the university.”

Starsky was right, but Hutch didn’t have to like it.

“Green and Allen’s families need to know.” Starsky said with a sigh. “I’m just saying what Dobey will say when we report in.”

“Since when do we listen to what he says?”

Starsky smiled. “We do when he’s right, and this time he will be.”

“Okay,” Hutch agreed. “We’ll take our time because Allen was underage. Dobey can’t argue with that, and we know what the press’s going to do when they find out the details.”

Starsky regarded him for a moment. “We also can’t forget that Green was the governor’s nephew.” He finished his breakfast.

Hutch waited patiently. Sometimes he hated that he couldn’t concentrate on all the cases the same way. Some of them made him feel things he wasn’t comfortable with. After all these years, he hadn’t learned how to deal with the discomfort. He knew exactly how easy it was to make a wrong choice, and this understanding made being a cop especially hard.

“So what _do_ we know?” Starsky asked after a while.

Hutch took out his notepad. “Green and Allen had been working since six last evening. Around midnight, they called Lane, using the security guard’s phone, because the one in the lab wasn’t working. Jim Jones, the security guard, said Green and Allen seemed very excited about something, but didn’t say what it was.” Hutch sipped his juice. “However the guard was under the impression, from their responses, that Lane knew what they were talking about.” Hutch looked up at Starsky, trying to visualize the scene. “Lane arrived forty minutes later and stayed in the lab until four a.m., when he left and went to his office in the other building. The security guard noticed smoke coming from the lab ten minutes later and called the firefighters. By the time they were on the scene, two other rooms on either side of the lab were already on fire. Green and Allen were the only victims. Jim Jones was the only other person working on campus that the night. Except for Lane, obviously. The coroner confirmed that Allen and Green each died from a single gunshot to the head. Ballistics won’t be ready for a day or so,” Hutch finished reading.

“And Jim Jones didn’t hear the shots,” Starsky added grimly.

“No. Lane had a silencer on the gun we found in his office.”

Starsky frowned. “That means he planned it all before he got there.”

“Nobody takes a gun with him to school without a reason... and they most definitely don’t bring silencers, which are illegal,” Hutch agreed.

“He was a soldier,” Starsky reminded him.

Hutch nodded. “There’s still something wrong with this case. Something we’re missing.”

“Yeah, we’re missing the motive.”

“Lane can’t tell us, that’s for sure.”

“Maybe he can.” Starsky shrugged. “We have to check out his notes, recent publications. Maybe he had a diary or planning book. Did he have an assistant?”

Hutch checked his notes. “Yeah, Doctor Mariska Pierson.”

Starsky got up from the table. “So where do we go first?”

Hutch followed him out of the cafeteria. “We can check his home later. It’ll be better to interview people associated with Lane and his victims before they have too much time to think about what happened.”

“Okay, we can go to his home after we finish the interviews. And when we’re done there...” Starsky hesitated, but Hutch finished his sentence.

“Yeah, Allen’s and Green’s families.”

* * *

They found Doctor Mariska Pierson standing in the middle of the ruined laboratory. It smelled of smoke and all the equipment was wet from the fire hoses. She was marking an inventory list, obviously cataloguing what had been damaged or destroyed.

Starsky thought that the sooty black walls and a broken window made the place look like a tomb.

Dr. Pierson frowned when Starsky and Hutch entered the room. “May I help you gentlemen?” she asked, sounding frustrated, but Starsky couldn’t miss the spark of interest in her eyes when she looked at Hutch.

Despite the frown and the white lab coat covering her figure, she was a beautiful woman. Starsky almost forgot why they were there in the first place.

“Detectives Hutchinson and Starsky.” Hutch presented his badge. His voice turning into the smooth velvet that he usually used with women he was interested in no matter if he was at work or not.

Dr. Pierson took it and examined his ID thoroughly.

“We’re investigating the Lane case. Are you Doctor Mariska Pierson?” Hutch asked.

“That’s me.” She returned his badge with a smile. “We’d better talk in my office. There are chairs at least, so we can sit down.”

Starsky liked her approach, though he suspected she just wanted to get out of the burned lab. He glanced up at Hutch. Hutch was admiring her long legs and curly red hair as they followed her out. Starsky watched him for a second. Hutch’s interest didn’t seem to be one of _‘I wonder what she’s doing tonight,’_ but rather _‘I wonder if she would like to be the future Mrs. Hutchinson._ _’_ That didn’t happen often.

Hutch met his eyes and raised an eyebrow.

_She’s yours, pal._ Starsky smiled.

Hutch had the grace to blush at being so transparent.

Pierson’s office was small and almost empty. There was a bookshelf with one miserable flower and a few books that seemed new and unread. There was a desk with a phone and two chairs on opposite sides of the desk. An old, worn armchair sat in the corner. Starsky suspected that Dr. Pierson didn’t spend a lot of time in the office.

Dr. Pierson sat down and Hutch claimed the chair on the right side of the desk. Starsky leaned against the door, taking out his notepad. If Hutch was going to ask the questions, Starsky would write down the answers.

“What do you want to know?” She put her inventory on the corner of her desk and adjusted her glasses.

“Miss Pierson, how long did you work for Professor Lane?” Hutch asked when he had her undivided attention.

“Three years. Ever since he began the asteroid project,” she said trying to sound calm. “Harry needed someone who knew how to work the telescope, because he couldn’t spend all of his time explaining it to each new student participating in the project. I was working on my PhD when I lived in Florida and I heard about this project so I decided to apply. I used to work for NASA before.”

“Did you know him well?”

“As well as you can know somebody when you only see them once a week to give a report.” She smiled apologetically.

“You’re listed here as his assistant.” Hutch said, looking at his notes.

Pierson tilted her head. “I would rather say I was _the project’s_ assistant. Harry didn’t need one. He preferred to work alone. You see, when you think the pyramids and Stonehenge were built by aliens, you are not likely to be very popular among your peers. That’s why it was hard to get close to him. He thought everybody would laugh at his theories. And in most cases, that was true.” She smiled sadly. “So until he could prove them, he kept all his hypotheses to himself.”

_Pyramids built by aliens?_ Starsky really wanted to check out Lane’s publications. He had read Erich von Daniken’s “Chariots of the Gods,” and found the book interesting.

“Can you describe his recent behavior?” Hutch’s question brought him back to reality.

Pierson thought for a while before she answered. “He was... concerned. But that was nothing new. He’s suffered from depression ever since he left the army, and it was sometimes better, sometimes worse. I wouldn’t say he was more distracted than usual. Do I think his depression was suicidal? Yes, I do. However, he refused professional help, and he didn’t have any close friends who could help him... not with the University.”

Starsky looked over at Hutch. He would always have a close friend willing to help. Hutch met his eyes and smiled briefly.

“Did you know the two students very well?” Hutch continued.

“I didn’t know Kyle well.” Pierson shook her head. “But Peter and I... we were together until last Thanksgiving.”

“You mean...?”

“Yes, we were lovers,” she admitted sadly. “I wasn’t interested in any long term relationship right now and Peter’s fiancée left him for his best friend two years ago. He got burned and wasn’t ready to try again. So we just... well, it worked for us.”

“But you weren’t currently involved?” Hutch raised an eyebrow.

“We...” she hesitated. “I guess we just got past that stage. I think we both were ready to move on because it wasn’t going anywhere. And no, I didn’t really love him nor did he love me.”

“I see. How about work? Did Green tell you what he was working on?”

“He didn’t have to. I read his reports because Harry couldn’t put together one sentence correctly on paper. Harry had great ideas and had many publications, but he always had an editor to do the work. He was a math genius, one of the best physicists, but his writing style was... unique. We called him Hemingway.”

Starsky just grinned.

“Okay, so do you have any copies of their last project?” Hutch asked.

She bit her lip. “No, I don’t. This project is nationwide and has three-month reporting periods -- so the most recent reports are about three months old. Harry didn’t insist on more frequent information from the participants. Nobody expected them to find anything anyway,” she added, taking off her glasses.

“What do you mean?” Starsky asked.

“They got the worst part of the sky to observe. There is nothing interesting in that area so they agreed that _if_ they found something they would report it as soon as they observed it.”

“And did they?”

“No.” She shook her head. “So far they hadn’t found anything that wasn’t already known.”

“Does the date August 27th mean anything to you?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Okay, thank you, Doctor Pierson.” Hutch took out his business card and handed it to her before he got up. “If you think of anything that could help us, don’t hesitate to call.”

“I will.” She smiled at him.

 Starsky just shook his head in amusement. She would most definitely call Hutch.

* * *

Peter Green’s father agreed to meet them at Peter’s home. Starsky drove the Torino to the nearby neighborhood after they finished talking to Mariska Pierson. He parked his car in front of a small cottage that appeared cozy and neat.

“Nice place,” Hutch said, looking around. It reminded him of the place Starsky helped him find after he divorced Vanessa.

“Yeah.” Starsky smiled. “What do you think paid for it? I can’t recall if he worked somewhere else?”

“He didn’t put information about his employment in the university records.”

“Maybe Mr. Albert Green can explain? Is his wife the governor’s sister?”

“I guess so.” Hutch got out of the car. He walked across the lawn and climbed the four steps to the porch with Starsky at his side. Starsky knocked on the door. They only had to wait a few seconds.

The man who opened the door was tall, balding, and wearing the gaudiest shirt Hutch had ever seen. He seemed to be expecting somebody else.

“Detectives Starsky and Hutchinson.” Starsky showed Green his badge. “Are you Albert Green?”

“Yes, I am. I’ve heard about you, too,” Green said and opened the door wider. He looked past Starsky and Hutch into the street, but when he didn’t see what was he was looking for, he let them in.

Hutch noticed Green’s hunched shoulders and red eyes. There was such pain in the man’s face that Hutch just wanted to turn around and walk away, but this was his job. He had to ask the difficult questions and be the cause of even more pain.

“You did?” Starsky asked, referring to Green’s comment. He sounded slightly surprised.

Starsky had made the call to set up a meeting with him, but Hutch didn’t remember ever hearing about Albert Green before.

“I was a cop as well.” Green closed the door. For a moment, he rested his back against the frame.

Starsky appeared mildly intrigued.

“In Seattle,” Green explained. “I moved to Bay City twenty-five years ago after I lost my partner... And I do read newspapers. What do you want to ask me? This... case seems to be closed.”

Hutch glanced around the place and noticed a set of photos on the mantelpiece. He recognized Peter Green and Mariska Pierson and some other girl who appeared in most of the pictures. In a few, he noticed their host as well.

“You’re right; we know who... killed your son. Now we want to know _why_ your son had to die,” Hutch explained, glad that the man understood the usual procedure.

“Okay, sit down.” Green pointed at the couch.

The whole living room was arranged in warm, brown colors. Someone had put a lot of effort into make it look like a real home. Starsky sat down and Hutch sat next to him. Green took a place across a coffee table. He looked up at them, his eyes rimmed with fatigue and lingering pain.

“Do you know what your son was working on, sir?” Starsky asked.

“Asteroids? Or meteors?” Green shrugged. “I have no idea what it was recently. Maybe some new project in an area that nobody’s interested in anymore?”

“Nobody with money, you mean,” Starsky corrected him.

Hutch didn’t say anything. He knew how college funding worked.

“Well, I won’t argue with that.” Green leaned against the back of the couch. “You know, these kids are really excited about what they do in these projects. Then the sponsoring companies cut the money because it’s not ‘fancy’ anymore and the university is left with only military contracts. And suddenly all they do is work for the government.” Green rubbed a hand along the arm of the couch, fingering the fabric. “As long as Peter was doing what he loved, he shared it with us. But when the university made him take part in this military contract, he just... He never said anything more, just whether he was getting results or not. And mind you, he wasn’t limited by any secrecy requirements. So, I can’t tell you what he was working on right now.”

Hutch could hear regret in Green’s voice.

“Did he ever mention Harry Lane?” Starsky asked.

“Not very often.” Green shook his head. “Peter wasn’t spending a lot of time with him in the astrophysics department.”

Hutch hated to ask this, but he had to. “Did they argue?”

Green looked at him. “Not that I’m aware of.”

“Does the date August 27th sound familiar?”

“No.”

“Have you ever met Harry Lane?”

“No.”

“How about Kyle Allen?”

Green nodded sadly. “Yes, Kyle used to spend a lot of time with my son, and I met him a few times. They mostly stayed on the roof where they could watch the stars. They’d talk and eat everything my wife prepared. You see, Peter never learned how to... cook.” Green wiped a tear away with his hand. “And we live just a few streets from here.”

Hutch turned to the window because he heard a car stopping in the driveway. “Please excuse me; I think my wife just arrived.” Green got up. “She was staying out of town with our daughter last week. Our daughter is pregnant with her first child. Is there anything else you want to know?”

Hutch stood and Starsky got to his feet. “Where did your son work?” Hutch asked.

“You mean how could he afford this house?” Green met Hutch’s eyes with sudden anger, but also with deeper pain. “It was a wedding gift. We bought it for him two years ago. The wedding never happened, but he loved this house so he kept it. But my son could have afforded it, if he’d wanted. He was an engineer and he sold patents for things he had invented. He’d wanted to make the world... better ever since he was eight-years-old.”

Starsky opened the door. “Thank you, sir.” He held out his hand.

Green grasped Starsky’s hand and held on for a moment longer than required. “It won’t change anything, you know?”

“What won’t change anything?” Starsky blinked, confused.

“Knowing _why_ ,” Green explained.

Starsky glanced at Hutch. “For us it will.”

Green just shook his head and closed the door.

Hutch didn’t say anything until they got in the car. “Where to now?” he asked when Starsky started the engine.

“Do you think that Kyle Allen had a girlfriend?”

“What?”

“Green had a girlfriend, and he kind of shared his work with her. Maybe Kyle also told somebody something,” Starsky explained patiently. “Not necessarily about this project but maybe just about his work with Lane? We know that kids usually share more with friends than with parents. There aren’t many teenage boys who talk to their parents about what they do at school, let alone in their free time.”

“It’s worth a shot,” Hutch said. “We can assume that Lane was chronically depressed and was possibly thinking about committing suicide. He wasn’t seeing any shrink so who knows how bad his condition was?”

“Okay. Let’s go meet the Allens.”

Unfortunately, Kyle’s parents couldn’t tell Starsky and Hutch anything more than they had already learned from Albert Green. Kyle had liked this project, spent a lot of time with Peter, and didn’t talk about Professor Lane. Kyle’s mother confirmed that her son had a girlfriend, Emilia Ramirez, and gave them her address.

Emilia lived just two houses away from the Allens.

“She’s with her little brother in the backyard,” Emilia’s mother said when Starsky explained why the police wanted to interview her daughter. “You can talk with her there if she’s willing. Emilia already knows what happened. Kyle’s father called us when the university contacted him about the fire.”

Emilia was sitting on a swing, playing with a yellow flower. Her little brother was sleeping in a baby carriage next to her. She raised her eyebrows as Starsky and Hutch walked across the lawn.

“Hi,” she said, obviously slightly confused.

“Hello, Emilia,” Starsky greeted her. “Your mother told us where to find you. We’re investigating what happened to Kyle Allen.”

“I know who you are.” She nodded. “You’re a cop. Detective Star -- sky?”

Starsky looked surprised. “Yes. Did we meet before?”

She shook her head. “No, I saw you on TV few years ago. When my father was sick with the plague. You found the man who helped with the cure, right?”

“Yes, that was me.” Starsky showed her his badge. “And this is my partner, Detective Hutchinson.”

Hutch smiled at her sadly. He didn’t wish the pain he’d felt when he was in the hospital with the deadly virus on anyone.

“You didn’t die either,” she said.

“No, I didn’t.” Hutch looked at Starsky.

“What do you need me for? Mr. Green said that the professor... killed Kyle.” She squeezed the flower in her hand.

“Yes, you’re right. But we want to know why he did it.”

“Why?” Emilia asked. “And you think I know that? I never met the professor. I wasn’t part of this project.”

Hutch leaned against the tree the swing was attached to. “We know that, but maybe Kyle said something about him? Mentioned why he would want to hurt... them?”

Emilia looked at the crushed flower in her hand. “Kyle said that the professor didn’t want them to find anything.”

“What do you mean?” Hutch asked.

She shrugged. “If they didn’t find anything, we would be safe.”

“What exactly were they looking for?”

Emilia regarded Hutch for a moment as if not sure what he wanted to hear. “They call the meteors and asteroids ‘enemies’. They can be dangerous.”

“Yes, we know.” Hutch nodded.

“So,” she continued, “if they found one big enough, it could even destroy our planet.”

“That’s improbable,” Starsky commented skeptically.

“I know,” she admitted. “Kyle knew that as well, but he said that when they were at the beginning of this project, the professor told them that they’d better not find anything. He said something about ‘unexpected guests’.” She looked around the grassy yard before adding, “I think he was talking about the Russians.”

“You think he meant satellites?” Starsky leaned closer.

“I don’t know.” She plucked off the petals and sprinkled them in the grass. “Kyle thought the professor was crazy.”

“Did Kyle ever mention August 27th?” Starsky asked.

“No. I don’t think so.”

“Okay, thank you, Emilia.”

“You should talk to Kris.” She slid off the swing and pushed the baby carriage into the shade of the tree. “He knows more than I do.”

“Kris?”

“Kristopher Perry.” Emilia tucked the blanket more firmly around her brother. He was still sleeping. She stood against the tree, wrapping her hand around the chain of the swing. “He works for Griffith Observatory. Kyle met him at the training that all the students had to attend before Professor Lane’s project started. Kyle sometimes went there and...” Her voice quivered. “We both went there to... just look at the stars...” She shrugged sadly.

“Thank you.” Starsky put a hand on her shoulder when she didn’t say anything more. “You really helped us.”

She didn’t move, but took a deep breath and looked at Hutch. “Detective Hutchinson?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for saving my father.”

Hutch didn’t understand what she meant, because Starsky had been the one to find Thomas Callendar. Starsky rubbed Emilia’s arm gently and smiled at her. He didn’t say anything, but Hutch knew Starsky didn’t have to. The gesture said everything.

When they got to the car, Starsky looked at Hutch over the Torino roof. “Smart girl,” he said.

“Yeah, she is,” Hutch agreed.

* * *

After Starsky and Hutch left Emilia’s house, they went back to the station to report to Dobey. While Hutch was writing the reports -- the promised payback for stealing Starsky’s covers -- Starsky checked to see if the students’ autopsy results had come back. The pathologist said they should expect the files on their desk tomorrow.

Before they went to dinner at Huggy’s, Starsky called the Griffith Observatory and got Kristopher Perry’s schedule for the whole week. Perry usually worked at night, which was not surprising. He agreed to meet them at his office.

Starsky drove up the winding roads of the canyon. He parked outside the Griffith Observatory when it was almost dark. Hutch got out of the car and Starsky followed him into the building. Perry was in his office, marking tests. BCU held astronomy classes for schools at the observatory and Perry was the head teacher.

“Detectives Starsky and Hutchinson?” he asked when they entered his office. Perry was in his early forties, tall and brown-haired. He was wearing a sweater and corduroy trousers.

His workplace was a lot better furnished than Pierson’s. Hutch suspected that most of the chairs and tables were antiques.

“Yes, that’s us,” Starsky said, sitting down across from the desk. “Thank you for agreeing to meet us so late.”

“It’s not late for me.” Perry shrugged. “And Harry was a great scientist. I will be glad to help you.”

Hutch sat down in the ladderback chair next to Starsky. “Did you know him well?”

“Not really, but I know his publications. I consulted with him on some calculations, but we never worked together.”

“Are you also a part of the ‘Finding Enemies’ project?”

Perry moved the papers he’d been grading to one side of his desk and leaned more comfortably against his chair. “Yes, this observatory is,” he admitted. “I have my team here and we use the observatory equipment. We don’t have a telescope as powerful as the one the university--” Perry hesitated. “Had,” he corrected himself. “But it serves the purpose. And many of their employees and students work or do research here as well. Now I suspect they will use it even more often. I’m the leader of the team here, as Harry was at BCU. We just have a better assignment in the project than they have, because we are actually finding the ‘enemies’. They never did.”

Hutch frowned. “Can you tell us what this project is about?”

“Well, it’s mostly about observing the sky and looking for planetoids and meteors.” Dr. Perry pointed upward. “Sometimes comets and asteroids, but these are rare. We call them Near Earth Objects -- NEO. These objects can be dangerous for various planets and moons. There is a possibility that one day we might need to protect our planet from the danger of a collision. However, that would only be possible if we know about them early enough.”

“I’ve never heard about the danger of an asteroid hitting the Earth,” Starsky said surprised.

Perry shrugged. “Because there has rarely ever been a significant event. But even if there were, we didn’t used to have the technical capabilities to destroy an asteroid in space. Now, even though we have nuclear power, we still would not be able to push an asteroid off course or destroy one.”

Hutch thought about the horrible implications. “You said you found some of these ‘enemies’. What do you mean that this was a better assignment? Isn’t the whole solar system full of big rocks and small planets?”

“Actually it’s not,” Perry said slowly. “You see, there are parts of the universe that are interesting for astronomers and there are parts that nobody cares about. We don’t _visit_ them very often with our telescopes, unless we need to do so for work.”

Starsky blinked. “Are you saying that there are parts of the sky that nobody observes?”

“Well, nobody important,” Perry specified. “People have telescopes at their homes, so they can observe whatever they wish, but the resolution in personal telescopes is not as good as ours here. However, _we_ are scientists and we get paid for actually finding things, so we cover the places where something is more likely to be found. We don’t waste time on places where coming across something valuable is improbable. The universe is big and old, and we each have just a single lifetime to enjoy it.”

Hutch thought about that. If Perry didn’t know Lane, then it was pointless to ask him about the reasons for Lane’s suicide. But maybe he could help them some other way.

Starsky apparently had the same idea. “Do you know what part of the sky Harry Lane’s team was observing?” he asked.

“I have the details about every team in this project and their areas of interest. It’s important in case there are any obstacles -- such as weather or broken equipment,” Dr. Perry explained, steepling his fingers. “And this way we can ask other teams to help us with our assignments. So yes, I know what part of the sky his team was working on.”

“Can you check out the area using your telescope?” Starsky tilted his head, regarding him with interest. “Lane’s team might have found something there, considering their behavior on the night they were killed.”

Perry looked up at the observation tower, visible from the window, on the other side of the compound. “We have classes scheduled there tonight, but I think I could switch them for half an hour. Would you like to see how it works?” He got up and went to the door.

“Sure, that would be great!” Starsky said with excitement. “I had a telescope when I was a kid,” he added, winking at Hutch.

“Really?” Hutch was surprised. He followed Starsky and Perry down the hall to the astronomy laboratory.

“My parents gave it to me for my eighth birthday,” Starsky confessed.

“You never told me!”

“You never asked.” Starsky grinned at him.

“What else don’t I know about you?” Hutch asked.

“Hutch, you plan to live until a hundred and forty-eight. I can’t reveal all my secrets now. What would we do in the next century?”

Hutch laughed, suddenly happy.

There was a large group of students waiting outside the laboratory, all chattering about their upcoming lecture.

“Just wait for a few minutes while I sort things out,” Perry said to Starsky and Hutch. He went over and talked with some of the students. Two young women walked a short distance down the hall and came back with a heavyset, balding teacher.

“What do you think the class is on?” Starsky asked. “Some kind of star gazing? I might like to stay.”

“Wait until we solve this case,” Hutch said.

“Starsky, Hutchinson?” Perry called. “Down this way.”

Starsky and Hutch followed him to another room with a ladder leading to the ceiling. Perry went up first, opened the trapdoor and pulled down another short ladder. They climbed into a small room with a large telescope that was directed at an opening in the roof.

The sky was clear and there were many stars visible. Hutch looked up with appreciation. He’d always loved picking out the constellations. The Griffith Park Observatory was far enough from the city that light pollution and neon didn’t obscure the view of the heavens.

Perry directed the telescope to a particular portion of the night sky, and Hutch listened to the questions Starsky asked him, when he was inspecting the telescope.

“What part of the sky is your assignment?” Starsky asked. “What’s the resolution of the telescope? Have you already found something out there?”

Perry seemed pleased that he had such interested audience. Hutch smiled because his partner still could surprise him after all these years.

Perry set the eyepiece for Hutch to look through. “Have you ever observed the night sky with a telescope, Detective Hutchinson?”

Hutch shook his head. “I only looked up when I was camping, never with a telescope.”

“Is Saturn visible now?” Starsky asked before Perry could say anything.

Perry smiled. “Yes, it is.”

“Show him,” Starsky said with excitement.

Hutch frowned. He knew exactly what Saturn looked like. He had seen dozens of pictures. What was so special about the planet?

Perry turned the telescope a bit and looked through the eyepiece, focusing the lenses. Apparently satisfied, he stepped back and nodded toward the mechanism.

Hutch looked into the eyepiece. For a moment, he saw nothing but darkness. Then he saw another planet with his own eyes. It was beautiful, a yellow sphere with shining rings. Saturn was nothing like he had seen in the pictures; it took his breath away. He gasped, trying to get a better view. He almost felt Starsky grinning.

“What is this white dot?” Hutch asked, amazed. He could clearly see the shining planet and the wide rings against the completely black background.

“It’s Titan,” Perry answered. “Saturn has many moons and Titan is one of them.”

“It’s beautiful,” Hutch said.

“It sure is.” Starsky agreed.

Hutch moved away and let Starsky take his place, placing a hand on Starsky’s shoulder. They didn’t say anything while Starsky admired the planet through the viewfinder. Hutch wondered if Starsky had spent many nights looking at stars and planets with his father when he was a kid.

After few minutes, Starsky let Perry set the telescope to different coordinates. “We don’t usually observe this is part of the sky, because there’s nothing interesting there. You see, different types of space debris -- asteroids, comets and other celestial bodies -- are all from the ecliptic plane -- the apparent path of the Sun’s annual motion relative to the stars, shown as a circle passing through the center of the imaginary sphere. It is rare for anything to come from any other direction.”

“Why?” Hutch still couldn’t understand what Perry was talking about.

“The same reason why all the planets are moving in the same plane,” Perry explained. “This is just how our solar system was created. Our solar system is not just our sun and the nine planets. There are celestial bodies far beyond Pluto, which is where our rocky visitors usually come from. We call it the Oort cloud. It’s a huge, roughly spherical, orbiting collection of comets thought to exist at the edge of the solar system and far beyond.”

“I see,” Hutch said. All the planets revolved around the sun in almost the same plane, so the other heavenly bodies must move in the same area, too. “So what could they discover from the area they were observing?”

“Most definitely not aliens, if that’s what you’re thinking.” Perry leaned against the wall, because there was no space in the room for chairs. “Lane was convinced that aliens exist and had even visited Earth in the past, but he never mixed his work with his hobby. Ask any of his employees and colleagues; they’ll confirm that. There might be asteroids or even some unknown comets coming from the galactic plane -- the part of space they were observing -- but it’s not very probable.”

“Can you check it out?” Hutch asked, pointing to the telescope.

Perry grimaced. “It can take weeks to scan that area with any degree of accuracy, but we can take a look. I’m sure they divided the sky into quadrants. When the sky was clear, Lane and his associates were scanning their section and marking their discoveries. If there were any,” he added skeptically and adjusted the focus again.

Perry looked through the telescope eyepiece and stepped back to let Starsky and Hutch take a look. “I don’t see anything out of place, but it doesn’t tell me much,” he commented when they both finished.

Hutch had only seen a few stars and mostly empty darkness. He had no idea how the cosmos was supposed to look in a more ‘interesting’ part of the sky.

“How would you know if anything was out of place?” Hutch asked curiously.

“Usually we take pictures and compare them with pictures taken previously. Sometimes the ‘before’ was last year, sometimes it was just yesterday. That’s because some objects move quickly and some are rather slow,” Perry explained. “And I use the words ‘quickly’ and ‘slow’ in the astronomical meaning. It all depends on what it is and how far away it is.”

“Can you take a picture for us of Lane’s section?” Starsky asked.

“Sure, but I don’t have anything to compare it with.” Perry crossed his arms over his chest. “As I said, we don’t work with this part of the sky. You would have to go to the library. They have maps of the sky for any day of the year.”

Hutch looked at him, surprised. “Every _day_?”

“Detective, Hutchinson,” Perry tapped his telescope fondly, “it really takes a lot of time for something to change out there. Except for the planets and moons, it all remains unchanged over centuries. This is why we can learn a lot about the universe.” Perry turned on the camera and took a set of pictures. “Do you want to wait until I develop it? Or will you send someone tomorrow to pick it up?”

Hutch saw how excited Starsky was about the pictures. “We’ll wait.”

“Okay, let’s go down to the dark room,” Perry said. He opened the camera and took out the negative.

“Thanks,” Starsky mouthed.

Hutch met his eyes and smiled.


	2. The One with the Dot

Starsky heard a knock at the door. Who could that be? He didn’t expect anybody this late at night. Hutch had just come back from a date with Mariska. Starsky hadn’t even had time to ask how it went.

Hutch was putting his jacket into the closet, so he opened the door.

“Good evening, Detective Hutchinson.” Kristopher Perry still had his hand up to knock again.

“Hello,” Hutch said. “What an... unexpected visit.”

Starsky got up from the couch and put the papers and books he had been studying on the coffee table. “Are you here because of the dot?”

“I -- I...” Perry blinked surprised. “A dot?”

“Yes, we discovered a difference between the pictures you gave us and the ones we found in these astronomy books. There is one dot that isn’t in the books. Can you tell us what planet this is?” Starsky had been excited ever since he noticed the discrepancy. “Come in!”

Perry seemed to understand what Starsky meant. He nodded. “I told you that all planets move in the same ecliptic plane. Your ‘dot’ doesn’t belong to the ecliptic; it came from the galactic plane,” he explained, walking into the living room. He noticed the books Starsky had collected.

“So you found it as well?” Hutch closed the door.

“Yes, I did.” Perry agreed. “I was curious after you told me Lane’s team was excited about what they might have discovered. You should know that when one scientist is excited, the rest of us are either nervous or even more excited.”

“And you are part of what group?” Hutch asked seriously.

“The excited one.” Perry smiled. “I think they might have discovered something that disturbs me, but I don’t know if that is why Harry killed his students. Did you uncover his motive?”

Starsky looked up at Hutch and Hutch shrugged. They had closed the case the day before, even though no one on the investigation team felt the situation was resolved. But they really didn’t have any more evidence to go on. The governor was mourning his nephew and had told them to stop wasting the taxpayers’ money. Still intrigued, Starsky and Hutch could only work on Lane’s case in their free time. Starsky had even been studying astronomy books for two days instead of putting together his model ship.

“No,” Starsky said. “We didn’t find anything in Lane’s apartment that could explain his behavior. No goodbye letter or anything what could serve as one, but it was undoubtedly a suicide.  Could you explain what are you excited about?”

Perry followed Starsky and Hutch to the kitchen table. Because of the large stack of books and the partially constructed model ship on the coffee table in the living room, the kitchen table was a better place to talk. Starsky pulled out a chair for Perry to sit down.

“I think Lane and his colleagues discovered an asteroid,” Perry said slowly. “Or even a comet, because there is no other object -- known object -- that is supposed to be where your ‘dot’ is right now.”

“Shouldn’t it be easy to distinguish between a comet and an asteroid?” Starsky frowned. “They look different to me.”

“Yes, but... that’s the problem.” Perry looked embarrassed. “You can tell the difference if seen in profile, if you know what I mean. But when viewing it face on... frontally, they look alike.”

“Frontally?” Hutch asked quietly. “You mean this thing is moving toward the Earth?”

Perry was obviously impressed with Hutch’s observation. “Yes.”

“But it will miss us?” Hutch wouldn’t let it go. “Right?”

Perry bit his lip. “I don’t think so.”

Starsky didn’t like where this conversation was going. “But asteroids are just shooting stars, so it will burn up in the atmosphere.” That much he remembered from the summers he’d spent with his father learning about stars and planets, as well as about girls and life in general.

“Not something that big,” Perry said cautiously. “I’ll need a confirmation from the other teams, but it’s definitely too big to be destroyed in the atmosphere. I know it’s not standard procedure, but I wanted you to know before I tell my colleagues, because without you, I wouldn’t have even looked in that section of the sky.” He clutched his hands nervously. “Maybe it will help you solve this case. I suspect that Harry had some kind of a breakdown after realizing that this asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, but I have no idea why he killed Kyle and Peter. Unless he totally lost it,” he finished sadly.

“Now wait a minute, what are you trying to tell us?” Starsky demanded. Something was very wrong. “Are you saying that this thing will collide with Earth? Like what happened with the dinosaurs? Or in Targuska?” It seemed like the Earth was suddenly a very hostile place to live.

“Tunguska,” Hutch corrected.

Perry shrugged. “Well, I didn’t have time to make exact calculations. I’ll need to take more photos for comparison. As I said, I’ll have to ask for help from other observatories. But I can tell you now that it will be a very close encounter. This ‘thing,’ as you call it, is big. No one noticed it until now because it is coming from an area that isn’t studied very often. It’s heading straight toward us.” He spread his hands in surrender. “If it’s a comet, we can’t see the trail because of the head on perspective. If you don’t have material to compare, it is impossible to tell if some ‘new’ object has appeared in the night sky. It isn’t often that amateur astronomers compare current pictures of the cosmos with the ones in books, because amateur astronomers aren’t looking at the sky for that reason. And the only team that was paid to do it is dead now.”

Starsky shook his head. “But the Earth revolves around the sun. It doesn’t stay in one place all the time!”

“If I’m right, Detective, that is our only hope,” Perry admitted sadly. “However, I wouldn’t hold much hope. Earth is big, which means our gravitational field will make it almost impossible for this asteroid to miss us.”

There was dead silence for a few moments.

“When will you know for sure?” Hutch asked, finally breaking the silence.

Perry ran his hand through his hair. “In a few days, maybe.”

“Days?” Starsky held his breath. “How far away is that thing, actually?”

“I can’t say right now. I’m not as good with calculations as Lane was, but it’s close. It’s really hard to tell because of the direction the asteroid is coming from.”

“But you can tell if that’s a few days or a few years?” Hutch asked.

“Weeks,” Perry said, sounding certain. “I can’t tell you if it’s just two or eight, but we wouldn’t see it at all if it was longer than two or three months. I’m guessing August.” He got up from the table, his shoulders hunched from the horrible news. “I have to go now, but I will call you when I know more.”

“Thanks.” Starsky saw him to the door.

Perry looked very stressed and Starsky realized how hard it must be for him to announce such a terrible discovery. Being the first to find the asteroid would make him famous and bring his professional career into a higher level, but the world could only wait in fear for the collision.

“Well, I think we just discovered the meaning of the date Lane had left on his desk,” he said. “And I think this is why Lane killed Green and Allen!” 

“What do you mean?” Hutch asked, sitting at the table. “He killed them because they discovered some unknown asteroid? It’s horrible news, but it doesn’t make much sense to kill anybody because of it, pal.”

“On the contrary, it does.” Starsky sat at the table across from Hutch. “I read some of Lane’s publications. Not the professional ones, mind you.”

“The ‘alien’ ones?”

“Yes,” Starsky said impatiently. “He really thought that the aliens visited Earth. I don’t know how to explain it, but I think he thought that when something is made public it’s _real_.”

“What?” Hutch asked.

“If you don’t talk about something, it just doesn’t exist,” Starsky tried to explain. He was never good with philosophical conundrums.

“So... you think that Lane thought that if he killed the only people who knew about the comet or whatever it is, it would just... disappear?” Hutch didn’t look convinced.

“Yes!” Starsky exclaimed, proud that his partner understood exactly what he wanted to say.

“Do you know how crazy that sounds?” Hutch shook his head, exasperated.

“Just think about what Emilia said.” Starsky tapped the table top. “Lane didn’t want them to find anything. And Perry said that he was an excellent scientist. Lane _could_ make calculations in his head that other people need to use computers for!”

“But you know what that means?” Hutch said slowly.

“What?”

“If Lane already calculated the descent of the asteroid, he must have decided to kill not only his students but himself, because this... object really is on a collision course with Earth.”

“And there’s no escape,” Starsky finished. “But we have nuclear power now!”

Hutch hesitated. “Do you really think they can manufacture something that could divert the asteroid in so little time? It would take months of preparations.”

“Maybe Lane was wrong?” Starsky asked, still not convinced of the terrifying future Perry predicted. Did this mean that the Earth would be destroyed?

“Yeah. Maybe.”

“At least we figured out the reason why he shot his students,” Starsky finished.

Hutch nodded.

Starsky regarded him closely and decided to change the topic because this news was too disturbing. He hoped Perry was wrong, because such terrible things couldn’t happen in real life, right? Only in books and in movies.

“How was your date with Doctor Mariska?” he asked instead.

“Nice,” Hutch said, sounding grateful for the distraction.

“But?” Starsky asked, surprised.

Hutch sighed. “It won’t work.”

“Why?”

“Remember when she said why she was staying with Green? She still really isn’t interested in a serious relationship.”

“And you know this only two evenings after asking her out?”

“Starsk, I know when to stop holding onto any expectations. She’s only interested in one thing right now, and however... pleasant and satisfying that might be, she’s not interested in _any_ future with me.”

Starsky heard a trace of pain in Hutch’s voice. He couldn’t understand how a person could _not_ be interested in a future with Hutch.

“She doesn’t know the world will end soon,” Starsky said slowly.

“I’m too old to waste my time on...” Hutch closed his eyes for a second. “If Perry is right, I would prefer to live for something real, not just... illusions. And I don’t want to be anyone's second choice, you know?”

“I understand.” Starsky wrapped his fingers around Hutch’s wrist. “I’m sorry it didn’t work.”

“It’s okay, she’s really nice and... I also needed a distraction.”

“Distraction?”

“That’s what she called it.” Hutch turned his hand so he and Starsky were palm to palm. “She needed it after... what happened to her former lover. I guess it’s her way of dealing with... stress.”

Starsky squeezed his hand. “You and your choice of distractions!”

“Starsky, you are impossible.” Hutch laughed and got up. “I’m going to take a shower and you should clean the table. Now that you know what your mysterious dot is, you can take the books back to the library. I suspect we will learn much more about asteroids in the next weeks than we ever wanted to know.”

Hutch was right, Starsky thought. The moment this information hit the press it would change everything. He stacked the books to return them to the library. The only thing left on the table was the unfinished model ship.

* * *

Three days later, Starsky and Hutch drove to the observatory and found Perry in the telescope tower.

Hutch closed the door. The room was very dark, and it took a moment for his eyes to get accustomed to the dim light. Perry had obviously been examining the stars.

“Good evening, Detectives,” Perry greeted them grimly. He didn’t look very happy. “I asked you to come down because I wanted you to be up on the latest information.”

“I think we can skip the detectives part, what do you think?” Hutch said. “He’s Starsky and I’m Hutch.”

“Okay, you can call me Kris.”

“Well, Kris, what do you want to tell us?” Hutch leaned against the wall and glanced up at the night sky visible through the open slit in the observatory roof.

“It will be all over the news tomorrow. The dot is an asteroid, one that -- according to its orbit -- visits us every hundred thousand years.” Perry pointed up as if the asteroid was right overhead. “And this visit... will be the last.”

Hutch felt his heart skip a beat. He met Starsky’s eyes. Starsky looked equally shocked and speechless.

“We contacted other universities in the country, as well as NASA, and the course of the asteroid has been... confirmed,” Perry continued. “It’s almost three hundred miles long and it will... will collide with the Earth in less than seven weeks.”

There was a long silence. Hutch listened to their breathing in the quiet of the room. It felt as if that was the only sound in the universe. His throat tightened and he felt very cold.

“Where?” Starsky asked.

“It doesn’t really matter, but it will be on the Northern Hemisphere, most probably Norway.”

_Norway._ Hutch swallowed hard. _That was far from California, right?_

“How will it happen?” Starsky managed, his voice rough.

“It will be bad.” Perry said brusquely. “As I said, this asteroid is big and the main component that makes up the rock is iron. That means that not only the surface of the Earth will be destroyed, but the impact will throw what’s left of our planet out of its normal orbit. We can’t be sure, but even if something survived the collision, there would be no sun visible for years. No sun means no plants. No plants, no food. You know what I mean? Anything that could survive would die within four years anyway.”

“But there's a chance for survival? Underground maybe?” Starsky insisted.

“No.” Perry shook his head. “This is too big. The impact will cause earthquakes everywhere. After the collision, enormous heat will erupt from the core of the Earth wherever the surface has been completely destroyed. That will create dust and acid rain in the atmosphere. No visible sun means frigid cold. Something similar to nuclear winter. But the truth is, human life will end immediately.”

Starsky stared at Hutch.

“Hell?” Hutch asked.

“Yes. It would be like hell,” Perry confirmed.

“So... it’s better to die before it happens?” Hutch asked, shocked.

Perry shook his head reluctantly. “I think it’s better to live. Always. I’m just outlining the conditions... after. However, most probably it will be worse. We don’t have any choice here; there will be no life after the impact.”

“But if the asteroid is as big as you say, how can the Earth as a planet survive?” Starsky asked. “I think I read in one of the books that an asteroid a mile long would destroy everything on Earth.”

“Because this asteroid is not big enough to destroy the entire planet,” Perry answered. “Just the surface will be damaged. You can compare it to an earthquake that will create mountains higher then Mount Everest and chasms deeper than the ocean. Every single place on Earth will be affected. It’s like crushing ice on the water, but instead of ice, the whole surface of the Earth will come apart.”

They were silent again as the vision of the inevitable future slowly sank in.

“When will it happen?” Hutch asked.

Perry hesitated, as if he didn’t want to say it aloud. “In August,” he said. “The 27th to be precise.”

Hutch looked up at Starsky in shocked silence. That indeed was the date Lane had written in his office. And it was just one day before Hutch’s thirty-eighth birthday.

“Thanks for telling us, Kris,” Starsky said, without taking his eyes off Hutch.

“If not for you... we wouldn’t know about the danger until much later. The budget really doesn’t allow us to observe more than two percent of the sky. That's why this project was founded. To briefly scan a few more. Nobody expected this result...”

Starsky frowned. “You think it’s better this way? To know about this impact before it happens?”

“There are people who will try to prevent the collision,” Perry admitted.

“You said it’s impossible,” Hutch noted.

“It is.” Perry sounded really sad and frustrated. “You can’t destroy three hundred miles of iron in space. Not with what we have available right now.”

Hutch knew exactly what he was getting at. “Trying will keep us busy?”

“It’s not in human nature to give up.”

“Yeah.” Hutch glanced at Starsky. How many times had his partner proved that he would fight to the bitter end?

“So why make it public?” Starsky asked. He reached out to Hutch as if he knew what Hutch was thinking about.

“Too many people know about the situation already.” Perry looked up at the sky beyond the telescope. “We had to contact observatories from other countries. Because the Earth revolves every 24 hours, we can’t keep an eye on the asteroid every moment. It'll be announced in many other countries, as well. It's no longer a secret.”

Hutch nodded at Starsky. It was time to leave. He could not stand being inside the telescope observatory any longer. The darkness was suffocating him on more than one level.

“The scientists didn’t give it our names or something?” Starsky asked when they reached the door. “The Starsky-Hutchinson asteroid?”

Perry gave him a sad smile. “The asteroid is designated by numbers and letters. This rock will destroy our planet; it’s not the best idea to give it a name. Now, if it was a comet, that would be another story.”

Starsky and Hutch left the observatory without speaking. Hutch couldn’t think of anything useful to say. He got in the car, but Starsky didn’t start the engine immediately.

Hutch looked up at the part of observatory tower visible from the parking lot and shivered. Was this how Lane felt when his students revealed their discovery of the asteroid? Shocked, still doubtful... scared? He wanted to spare the rest of the humankind this horror so he had killed his students and then himself.

If not for him and Starsky checking up on Lane’s work, no other astronomer would have seen the asteroid hurtling toward Earth. Scientist wouldn’t have known about the asteroid until it was close enough for amateur telescopes to observe it. Hutch glanced at his partner. Starsky held the wheel in an iron grip, and he was staring at the astronomy tower as well. Hutch could feel the tension radiating from him.

He reached over and covered Starsky’s hand firmly. “Think you can drive?” he asked.

Starsky had the same fear Hutch felt mirrored in his eyes. “I -- I have no idea where to go.”

“How... about home?”

Starsky shook his head. “No... I can’t go there yet. I need to... clear my head.”

Hutch smiled gently and patted him on his shoulder. “Okay, let’s go to Juno’s. They have a tap dancing performance every Thursday night.”

“Tap dance?” Starsky blinked, surprised. “Hutch, I knew you had strange taste in dancing, but I didn’t realize it was _that_ bad.”

“Trust me, Starsk. You’re gonna love it.”

Starsky smirked. “I always trust you. What’s the address for Juno’s?"

* * *

A few hours later, Hutch sat alone in his dark apartment playing with a loose sail from the model ship. Starsky hadn’t worked on the ship in weeks, and the pieces were strewn over the coffee table. Hutch couldn’t sleep. He could easily imagine what would happen tomorrow after the city heard the grim news about the asteroid.

_City?_ Hutch shook his head. _The entire world._

Their job was difficult enough without apocalypse waiting round the corner, but now it would be even worse. What sense did it make to stay on the police force after news of the asteroid? Wouldn’t it be better to just live? Enjoy what time was left? He could call his life ‘living’ only because he could share it with Starsky. Because he could be a cop alongside Starsky.

_Starsky._

Would he want to stay? Starsky always wanted to travel, to learn new things, to discover the world in his own, unique way. Hutch had no right to ask him for such sacrifice. If Starsky wanted to leave the force...

Hutch’s heart skipped a beat -- the rest of his life without Starsky? He’d already faced that future in May of 1979 when the doctors told him Starsky wouldn’t survive. Hutch hadn’t been ready to let him go then. Was he now strong enough to face the rest of his life alone?

That was a different kind of fear -- hiding in the darkest corner or his soul -- fear of dying alone. It had always been his greatest fear. Hutch remembered the times when he almost died without anybody there for him. Twice in his life he had felt so alone that he would have screamed if he’d had any strength left.

When he was dying from the plague, every breath hurt too much to even let him whisper, let alone scream for Starsky. In the canyon, trapped under his car, Hutch had been able to scream, but no one had heard him. By the time there were rescuers to hear him, he had been too weak to even try. That was that kind of loneliness he didn’t want to ever experience again.

Now, he knew when he would die and he even knew how it would happen. The press release was imminent. All the scientists of the world would use newspapers and news programs to educate the population of the world about asteroids and the destruction of the Earth’s crust. Exactly what Perry had already told them. In the end, no amount of education would matter anyway.

Hutch didn’t agree with Perry when the scientist said that it wouldn’t matter what they would do. In those last few seconds, there would be one thing -- one person that mattered. Hutch hoped he could share his last moments with Starsky.

He was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear Starsky until he locked the front door of the apartment.

Hutch looked up and smiled. He could tell at a glance that Starsky had had sex. Hutch had mastered Starsky’s body language even better than English. Starsky moved differently, spoke differently, even smelled differently after he released his tension in the way only sex could provide.

But why was he back so early? Hutch glanced at the clock and blinked. It was almost four in the morning.

“I thought you would be up.” Starsky took off his jacket.

“I had to think,” Hutch admitted quietly. The silence that had enveloped him for the past hours was comfortable, compared with what was happening inside his soul.

“Me, too.” Starsky slumped down next to him on the couch. “But I suspect my way of thinking is better than yours,” he added with a wink.

Hutch chuckled. “How was your night?”

“Quite a lady.” Starsky grinned.

“It takes two to tango.”

Starsky propped his feet up on the coffee table with a green. “Her name is Tara, and she didn’t complain,” he said with such certainty that Hutch smirked.

“Show off.”

“And how was _your_ night?” Starsky put his hand on the back of the couch as he faced Hutch.

Hutch shrugged sheepishly. “I was thinking about my parents.”

“Are you going to see them?” Starsky asked.

“I -- I don’t think it'll be possible after... it’s made public. But I have to say goodbye.” Hutch felt he needed to explain his decision.

“I understand,” Starsky whispered calmly.

Hutch looked at him with uncertainty. “Will you be there when I call them?” He knew he wouldn’t be able to face it alone.

“Of course I will.” Starsky squeezed his shoulder gently.

Hutch leaned his head against the back of the couch, partly on Starsky’s forearm, and looked up at the ceiling. He still hoped it all was some kind of a dream -- nightmare. He wanted to wake up and find everything to be as it was before. He wanted to live until he was hundred and forty-eight, but he had just a few weeks left.

Hutch closed his eyes and felt Starsky shift so his head rested against Hutch’s.

This nightmare seemed a little less scary, now that Starsky was here.


	3. The One with Kira

One week later, almost every observatory across the world had confirmed that the asteroid was on a collision course with the Earth and that the time of the impact was correct. The only thing that had changed was the place where it would enter the atmosphere. It wouldn’t be Norway as Perry predicted, but Scotland.

With each passing day, the crime rate steadily increased in Bay City -- and in every major metropolis across the globe. People initially reacted with panic and fear, but after a week, those first emotions subsided and life went back to relative normalcy. The crime rate still hovered at 70 percent because lawbreakers didn’t miraculously become model citizens after news of the asteroid. What changed were the people who had lost all hope and simply began killing and looting. The rest of humanity tried to use whatever time they had left the best way they could.

Hutch sat in the car waiting for Starsky. He watched his partner ordering their lunch in one of their usual places -- Larry’s Burrito Shack. Hutch didn’t hold high expectations for the food, and went back to reading the Bay City Chronicle.

The top headline on the front page announced that four hundred people had been found dead in one of the warehouses on the outskirts of Bay City. The group had collectively committed suicide following the lead of their spiritual guide.

Hutch skipped the article. He had been inside that warehouse yesterday. The rows of dead believers had been horrific; he didn’t need any reminders of the scene. He had never felt so angry in his entire life after the cops managed to open the locked warehouse door. All those bodies, each person dressed exactly alike in dark blue robes, laid out on the floor. How could anyone believe that killing himself would prevent the oncoming events was beyond Hutch’s comprehension. He didn’t know what he would have done if Starsky hadn’t been right behind him when they entered the warehouse.

“Dobey’s leaving the force,” Starsky said, carefully climbing into the car with their food.

“What?” Hutch looked at him, surprised.

“I forgot to tell ya at the station.” Starsky handed him a plate of salad and a plastic fork.

Hutch frowned, trying to decide what was more shocking: the meal Starsky ordered him or the news that his boss was quitting his position.

“We have just ten minutes until we log in again, so I suggest you eat this... this thing before we leave,” Starsky suggested. “I don’t want plants spilled all over my seats.”

“These aren't plants; it’s a salad,” Hutch corrected. “Who told you about Dobey?”

“Minnie, when I went into the squadroom for the list of victims identified from the warehouse.” Starsky took a bite of his burger with double onions. “The Cap announced it yesterday after we'd already left for home.”

“Did he say why?” Hutch tried the salad and decided it was edible. After crunching some lettuce and beets, he reached for a few French fries from Starsky’s lunch.

“He claims he wants to be with his family.” Starsky smiled sadly, holding out the carton of fries until Hutch picked the ones he wanted.

That sounded exactly like Hutch’d expect Dobey to react. “How about we visit them after work?”

Starsky nodded, eating his hamburger quietly.

“Who will the brass assign to act as captain?” Hutch asked after he wiped his fingers and mouth. “Do we know him?”

“Her.”

“Her?” Hutch asked, mildly intrigued. He didn’t know many women in the department who qualified for the position, particularly with the very near future in jeopardy.

“Who is pretty, intelligent, a little devious, and knows exactly how to get what she wants?” Starsky winked at him, starting the engine.

 “I always knew Kira would make captain one day,” Hutch said, amused.

Some of the memories they shared with Kira hurt, but two years ago she had helped them put what was happening to them in perspective. Kira had done an excellent job solving the issues in Hutch’s relationship with Starsky.

The first case they had worked on with her had been a disaster. Hutch was still ashamed of how deeply he had hurt Starsky when he betrayed his trust. He had been burned out and tired. He’d had to hit bottom before he realized what was really important. Hindsight was 20/20, as the saying goes. Three years ago, he hadn’t had the luxury of time and experience.

The second case -- a missing cellist -- was completely different. Hutch didn’t like having unfinished business, but it was hard when Dobey assigned them to a case with Kira. It had been four months after Joe Webster’s bomb, and Hutch still didn't trust himself around the beautiful woman. He worried that Starsky still harbored feelings for her. Surprisingly, Starsky asked him to consider taking the case.

_“Hutch, just think about it!” Starsky said, slicing mushrooms in his kitchen for a late dinner. “She was as messed up as we were. She wasn’t playing us against each other. She was just being the perfect woman for each of us.” Starsky handed him four tomatoes. “Chop these up for the sauce. Why do you think she didn't try for a threesome?”_

_“How am I supposed to know that?” Hutch reached for a knife._

_“She couldn’t please us both at the same time.” Starsky tossed the mushrooms into the pot with a satisfied smile._

_“What?” Hutch paused in his chopping, surprised. “Starsky, she was doing it all the time! She was exactly what I wanted her to be!”_

_“Yup!” Starsky stirred the rice and then leaned against the cupboard. “I needed to... fall in love. I needed new hope for a future. I needed a real home and a warm body next to me when I woke up in the morning. And I got it all from her. But,” he waved a finger at Hutch, “that’s not what she was giving you. You didn’t need any of those things. Not when you were with her.”_

_“Of course not,” Hutch said. “I -- I needed...”_

_“You needed excitement, the rush of adrenaline,” Starsky finished for him. “You needed to cross the line. Kira offered it all... and more.”_

_Hutch didn’t say anything until he was done with the tomatoes. “What are you trying to say?” He looked up._

_Starsky didn’t move, waiting patiently until Hutch was ready._

_“I’m saying that it didn’t make any sense to me.” Starsky sat down at the table. “I couldn’t understand why she was behaving like that, because I **knew** she wasn’t doing it to hurt us. She’s a real good actress; that’s why it took me so long. I was trying to figure out her reasons, and I think I finally got it. When you're undercover as much time as she is -- and her assignments are different from ours most of the time -- you start getting lost. You become who other people expect you to be, and unless you have somebody to remind you who you really are, you... get lost in the end.” Starsky looked at him sadly. “She’s not as lucky as we are, Hutch. She never had a partner.”_

_Hutch frowned, remembering something he would prefer to forget. “You think that’s what she meant when she said that we didn’t care what **she** wanted?”_

_“Yeah.” Starsky nodded. “Just think about it. She always said the right thing as if she knew exactly what we wanted to hear. That’s why she’s such a good undercover cop. She reads people as if she’s known them for years. This job has a price, and she’s been paying it for years.”_

_Hutch wasn’t sure if Starsky was right about Kira’s motivations, but he wouldn’t be surprised if he had nailed her reasoning. However, he still wasn’t sure about taking the new case. The last thing Hutch wanted was to hurt his partner again._

_“Starsk, whatever reason she had for doing what she did, we both know how good she is. I’m not sure I trust myself to... face her again and...”_

_Starsky wrapped his fingers around Hutch’s. “Let’s get one thing straight here. I hate what you did; it hurt like hell, and I will never forget the pain, but I never hated **you**. For me, it’s over. I loved a perfect woman who never existed. She lied to me from the very beginning, and that means I didn’t know her at all. Never. Though I know what I feel **now,** and I trust you.”_

_“Starsky, you can’t...”_

_“You don’t need my permission to sleep with her, but if you do, remember that she’s not the woman I loved and she never was. If you end up in bed with her, don’t beat yourself up over that. You won’t be able to think clearly if you don’t get it out of your mind. She had her own reasons for why she wanted to meet us at Huggy’s after we closed Webster’s case, which is why she needs to take this job as badly as we do. I hate seeing you doubt yourself, and nobody’s better than Kira to get rid of this issue for us.”_

Hutch had gone to talk to Kira. Then they’d had wild, angry, and passionate sex because the original feelings were still lingering between them. Then they talked some more. That’s when Hutch realized that Starsky was right. The romance had been over when Starsky saw Hutch coming out of Kira’s bedroom, but the past difficulties were not over for Hutch. He couldn’t be done with them without her presence and their last encounter at Huggy’s -- when they left her there while reuniting -- wasn't the resolution Hutch needed.

Hutch wondered how it was possible to feel so many opposing emotions for one person. He had never loved her, but she had changed him too much to forget _why_. She had made him challenge who he was and fight for what he loved. Because of her, he had realized what the most important thing in his life was. Kira had helped him find the courage to reach for it. He liked to think that he had also changed her. That he and Starsky had let her see that she could be herself without being lonely and could choose her own future. Sometimes the job was not as important as staying true to yourself.

Starsky and Hutch had joined with Kira to sift through the interviews of musicians the cellist Ping Lee worked with. Lee was found quickly. The entire case only took the better part of one day and no one died in the process. Even Dobey had been surprised by the results. The biggest surprise had been that afterwards, Kira took a leave of absence to study for the lieutenant’s exam. Three months later, she passed.

Now, two years later, Starsky and Hutch would meet up with Kira again.

They spent the day talking to the families of the people who had died in the warehouse. It was sobering, devastating work. Informing loved ones about a relative’s death was never easy. When he finally got to the station, Hutch was exhausted -- not only physically, but emotionally.

The reports were easy to finish, they just had to write up brief accounts about the interviews with the victims’ families. When Hutch walked into Dobey’s office to file the last of the reports about the suicide victims, he wasn’t surprised to find Kira there, although Dobey was not at his desk. Kira was sitting in one of the office armchairs, reading some files.

She looked up and smiled. “Hey, Hutch.”

“Hey, yourself.” Hutch closed the door and left the reports on Dobey’s desk.

Kira stood gracefully and Hutch took her in his arms. It didn’t matter that they hadn’t seen each other for years. Somehow she was... important. She hugged him back. Hutch relaxed in her presence, her scent enveloping him. He didn’t realize how tense he had been all day until now.

“How are you doing?” he asked when they parted.

“Now that I've realized who I really am and what I want to do, it looks like I’m running out of time. I won’t be enjoying the job for long,” she said sadly.

“Are you?” Hutch raised an eyebrow. “Enjoying it?”

“Yes. All my dreams came true.”

Hutch lifted her hand to look at the diamond ring she wore on her finger.

She smiled. “His name is Kevin and he’s a garden designer. He works in the Bay City Botanical Gardens,” she explained. “And he doesn’t mind my colorful past.”

“You told him?”

“Yes.”

“Lucky girl.”

“You heard about Dobey?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“You think we can do our jobs as cops for the next few weeks?”

“Starsk and I won't be leaving the force, if that’s what you’re asking.”

She nodded. “So you're still working together?”

Hutch smiled. “Yes, we are. And we don’t intend to leave.”

She regarded him for a moment. “You never know what can happen, so don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

_Yes, she most definitely has changed,_ Hutch thought. “And how about you?” he asked.

Kira looked around the office. “Being a captain of detectives is the only thing I can do now. The only thing I want to do.”

“We won’t stand in your way.” He squeezed her hand.

“I know.”

“When do you start?”

“Today was Dobey’s last day, so I start tomorrow.” She shrugged. “He said he would talk to all the detectives on the squad in the morning.”

Hutch hugged her for the last time. “So, see you tomorrow,” he said and left her office.

Starsky was already in the car waiting for him.

“What took you so long?” he asked when Hutch got in the car.

“I talked to Kira for a while.” Hutch reached for Starsky’s wrist and checked his watch.

“She was there?” Starsky asked, surprised.

“She still is. You want to talk to her?”

Starsky shook his head. “No, we'll see her often enough in the near future.” He smiled at Hutch.

“Yeah, I guess we will.”

Starsky started the engine. “Are we still going to Dobey's house?”

Hutch thought about it. “I think Edith and the kids will be happy to have him just to themselves today,” he decided.

Starsky nodded and drove home.

They didn’t talk much about Dobey’s decision, but Hutch felt as if something had to be said. He just wasn’t sure what it was or how to approach it.

Starsky prepared a quick dinner for them while Hutch was showering. They ate the spaghetti in silence. Hutch could see that something was bothering his friend as well, but too much had happened today to know for sure what was wrong.

The suicide in the warehouse had battered Hutch down. Starsky had gotten progressively less chatty with every death notice they had to deliver to shocked relatives. Now, the news about Dobey and Kira. No wonder Starsky was upset.

After dinner, Hutch washed the dishes. After drying his hands, he sat on the couch next to Starsky and handed him a beer. The evening news was on the TV with the sound turned down. Hutch decided he had to do something about Starsky’s mood.

“I told Kira we won’t leave the force,” he said softly.

Starsky glanced at him, but looked down at the beer he was holding. “It’s my life, and this is what I always wanted to do,” Starsky said. “I still do. Do you?”

Hutch frowned. So many of their friends had already left the force, deserting their responsibilities to wait for the end of the world in their own way. Even Huggy had moved to Las Vegas two days ago.

“There's no other place I want to be right now.” Hutch didn’t hesitate; this was his only answer. “But something bothers _you_.”

Starsky stared at the unfinished model ship on the table. He hadn’t touched it since Perry brought the news. “I thought about what happened yesterday.” He shrugged. “And about Dobey.”

Hutch didn’t say anything when Starsky fell silent. He waited patiently because he wanted to be sure they had both come to the same conclusions about staying on the force.

“I just don’t get it!” Starsky turned toward him. “I understand that some people got lost somewhere along the way. Who wouldn’t? I just... I don’t know _me_ anymore. I don’t know what I think or... feel. What is this all worth? Would it be worth saving those poor schmucks in the warehouse if there was a way? We'll all die in the end anyway.”

Hutch closed his eyes for a moment. “People have always died.” He and Starsky seemed to be sharing the same pain. “Always will.”

“It’s different now and you know it.” Starsky shook his head. “I hate it.”

“I know.”

Starsky didn’t move. He looked into Hutch’s face sorrowfully. He was so angry at the world, and there was nothing Hutch could do about it. The majority of humanity probably thought the same way. Maybe Starsky was at the point of letting go?

“How can you be so...” Starsky winced. “Hutch, I don’t want you to die,” he said in a faltering voice.

Hutch swallowed hard. Starsky wasn’t scared about his own death; all he cared about was Hutch. Hutch put his hand on his forearm. “I love you, too,” he said softly. He could see that Starsky wanted to look away, because he usually tried to avoid or misdirect the topic of ‘death’, but this time there was nowhere to go. They had to face facts sooner or later.

“Hutch, I -- I know I never told you...” Starsky took a deep breath. “I want to say that... I...”

“Starsk, you don’t have to say anything,” Hutch said. “I know you do.” If there was one thing Hutch was certain about in the whole universe, it was Starsky’s love.

“I never said the words.” Starsky shrugged sheepishly.

“Yes, you did.”

 “I did? When?”

Hutch sighed in exasperation. “When you saved my life when Bellamy wanted to kill me. When you let Calendar go. When you forgave me after I betrayed you. When you protected me when Gunther wanted to kill us both. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.”

Starsky looked at him intensely, nodding.

Hutch almost laughed. “And to think they call _you_ Hemingway,” he joked.

Starsky grinned and slid down on the coach, leaning his head against Hutch’s shoulder. “Do you think it’s all in vain?” he asked. “Like what the people in the warehouse did? Is the asteroid why they killed themselves?”

“I don’t know why they... why they do what they do. I think all the psychology crap we had in the academy is useless right now. The only thing I know is why _I_ do what I do, and for me it’s _not_ in vain.” Hutch put his arm around Starsky’s shoulders and held him tight. “You're my best friend, and this is more than I ever dreamed I would have. I don’t care how much time we have left.” He leaned his temple against Starsky’s hair.

Starsky didn’t say anything. Hutch waited, because he knew there was more. He was rewarded with a whisper.

“I’m scared, Hutch.”

Hutch rubbed his shoulder gently. “Me, too.”

Starsky looked up at him. “Feels good to have someone to be scared with.”


	4. The One with Loose Ends

Hutch had to admit that the next week was one of the worst in his life so far. It started with the unexpected visit of his parents on Tuesday morning.

“Kenneth,” his mother said, hugging him. “We are here because we wanted to say goodbye. Your father and I decided to spend the time we have left visiting places we always wanted to go.”

“Mom, Dad, do you think that's wise?” Hutch’s world turned upside down. He wanted them near him, not driving in a car on the fateful day. Now that they had traveled from Duluth to Bay City, his parents could stay, couldn’t they?

But the look in his mother’s eyes said it all. His father only confirmed it, and Hutch we was glad that his parents had come all the way so they could say goodbye. With all the airports and train stations providing only emergency transportation, Hutch had lost hope of flying home to Duluth. Now, he was disappointed that, having made it to California, his mother and father wanted to leave the next day.

“Where are you going?” he asked with concern.

“It’s not important where your father and I are going,” Elisabeth said. “The most important thing is that we are going there together. And we have always wanted to go back to Puerto Valerta where we had our honeymoon, but never found the time. Well, it's now or never...”

His mother must have seen how it was breaking his heart, so she added, “Ken, you can join us if you wish.” She touched his cheek lightly, ruffling his hair. “But you know your heart won’t be with us. You have your life here, and I have my life with your father. We’ll call every day, okay?”

Hutch couldn’t argue with her because she was right. He knew he couldn’t leave the life he had here and he knew his parents too well to believe they could stay in one place and wait for the inevitable.

So he spent the day with his mother and father, talking about his childhood and reliving many old memories. Only Starsky’s hand on his shoulder kept him from falling apart when his parents went back to their car when the day was over. When the Hutchinsons drove away late in the afternoon, Hutch faced reality for the first time since Perry told him about the asteroid. The world as they knew it would soon end, and there was nothing anybody could do about it.

Some part of Hutch wanted to leave as well, to get lost somewhere where no one would know him. Some place where he wouldn’t have to consider other people and their expectations. Some new land where he could be himself -- just as his parents decided to do. However, he would never find that kind of peace without Starsky by his side, and he couldn’t ask Starsky to give up his life because of Hutch’s sudden whim.

Hutch looked after his parents’ car, knowing he would never see them again. When their blue car disappeared around the corner of the street, he clasped Starsky’s hand, feeling more lost than ever.

They walked up the stairs together. After Hutch closed the door, he leaned against it and caught Starsky’s arm. “Do you think they... they will...?”

“I don’t know, Hutch.” Starsky shook his head.

“So many people have decided to end their lives instead of waiting for the inevitable,” Hutch continued. “I know it’s difficult to wait through the uncertainty, in the hopeless expectation of unavoidable events, but...” He hesitated. In the last few days, they had found many suicide victims in apartments, cars, even on sidewalks.

“But we only have eleven days left until impact,” Starsky reminded him.

Hutch didn’t say anything, just nodded. He wondered what his parents wanted to do at the end. He wanted to believe they would live, but in the face of a total destruction, people could change. Maybe his parents would as well? Would they look for answers in religion even though they were never very religious? Or would they leave the church completely as so many people had?

Hutch took a deep breath and looked at his friend. It wasn’t in Starsky’s nature to give up, but Hutch wondered sometimes if Starsky could one day. One of the eleven days left.

Starsky read the question in his eyes. “Let’s go for a walk,” he suggested.

The beach had always been a place where Hutch could find peace. He enjoyed the sand and the waves -- even the scent reminded him of home, because now California was home.

Many other Bay City residents were strolling on the sand this foggy evening, possibly looking for the meaning of life. There was so little time to find inner peace.

Hutch watched Starsky walking beside him, and smiled to himself. Searching for the meaning of life was easier in Starsky’s company.

Starsky trailed a stick in the sand, the brisk wind blowing his hair around his face. He stopped suddenly and frowned at the waves coming in. Hutch turned in the same direction and saw a tall, young girl with dark brown curls standing at the edge of the water -- where the ocean was not deep, but the waves were high. In the cool of the evening, she wore a pink dress with a brownish sweater. She walked resolutely into the Pacific, moving farther and farther into the deep water, her pink dress spreading out on the surface like rose petals on a pond.

Hutch had seen so much death in the last few days that he knew exactly what she was going to do. Starsky took a step toward her, but Hutch held his arm.

“Starsk, what if she wants it this way?” he asked, sensing his friend’s tension. No one else on the beach reacted. Bay City folk passed quite near the spot where she had chosen to drown herself.

“What if she wants somebody to stop her?” Starsky didn’t move, but Hutch could feel how important it was to him.

Hutch let go of his arm. Starsky dashed into the water with Hutch right behind him. It seemed impossible. The girl was already far out, the waves crashing over her, the water almost above her head. Hutch despaired of saving this one life.

The water was shockingly cold, sucking the breath from Hutch’s lungs. Starsky grabbed the girl’s arm, hauling her to him. She didn’t fight, her strength gone. Hutch caught her other arm and between them, they dragged her back through the churning water to the sandy beach. Gasping and choking, she fell on her knees and didn’t look at them. She just stared at the ocean.

Hutch shivered. He was freezing, not simply from his wet clothes or the wind, but because of what _could_ have happened. A small crowd of onlookers watched apathetically.

Starsky sat on the wet sand next to the girl.

“Waking up alone for the rest of my life is not an option,” she said.

Starsky put his hand under her chin and turned her head so that she had to face him.

“I lost him two months ago... and they told me that it would get better...” she was saying. “That time would make it better. I have no time. It won’t get better. Ever. So why do I have to suffer?” She blinked, tears filling her eyes. “I don’t have to. I read the newspapers. I -- I just don’t want to... I can’t keep going on like this.”

Hutch felt his throat tighten. If it were a different time -- a different world -- he would say that there's _always_ tomorrow, but they all knew that in a few days, there would be no tomorrow. For anyone.

Starsky didn’t say anything. He put his arms around the girl's shoulders and held her while she cried. And then until she stopped crying.

Half an hour later, they escorted Kate to her apartment. The building was only one block from Hutch’s. There was nothing he could do to solve any of her problems except extend a hand in friendship.

* * *

The next morning, Starsky and Hutch didn’t even have time to log in. Dispatch called them to a crime scene before eight am. One look and Hutch had very little doubt about what had happened. Martin Caruso, a drug dealer who operated in this part of Bay City -- the dealer they'd been searching for before the University murder-suicide that had started everything -- was dead. He was lying partly on his bed, partly on the floor, with bullet holes in his head and right shoulder.

There were about two dozen plastic bags scattered around him on the floor. Hutch didn’t have to check the contents to know the bags contained heroin. Many years had passed since his close encounter with this drug, but he still remembered that terrible ordeal as if it were yesterday. He often had nightmares about the days he’d spent in a completely different world.

Starsky found another body in the kitchen. Apparently, the neighbors had called to report a shooting -- a drug bust gone bad? Although an increased percentage of the population had started overdosing on drugs in the last few weeks, discovering the second body was especially hard for Hutch. The dead man was not only a cop; he was their friend, Bernie Glassman. The cause of death was obvious -- Bernie was another victim of an OD.

“Hutch?”

Hutch felt Starsky’s hand on his shoulder. He blinked, but suddenly couldn’t breathe. “Starsk... I...”

“Go.” Starsky pushed him gently.

Hutch walked unsteadily out of the apartment.

It wasn’t fair or professional to leave Starsky to deal with this mess, but he did it anyway. Right now, he just wanted to be alone. He couldn’t stand being surrounded by people. So many men and women were acting out of character. No one seemed to care anymore. Just like Bernie, lying dead on the floor of this dirty kitchen.

There were many places Hutch could go, but only one where Starsky would not follow. They both had places that were special sanctuaries. Hutch knew what Starsky’s was -- there was this special place in the park, where his partner liked to take pictures. They had learned the hard way that it was important to inform each other when one of them planned to hide in plain sight. Hutch never had to follow when Starsky wanted to be alone, but knowing the place was essential.

Now, however, Hutch didn’t go to the Bay City Botanical Garden where he could be surrounded by plants from all over the world. That was usually his favorite place and the sanctuary that only Starsky knew about. All the lush greenery had the ability to help him find the right distance when the world seemed to crush him flat. Today, the gorgeous setting would only remind him of what he was going to lose.

Hutch called a taxi. “Up Pacific Coast Highway to Malibu,” he told the driver.

The remote cliffs were high, the heavy waves splashing endlessly against the rocky bluffs. The natural destruction suited Hutch’s emotions. Waiting for the apocalypse was surreal -- acceptance never got any easier.

Hutch sat on the edge of a rocky cliff, watching the horizon, trying to calm his churning emotions. How often had he wanted to do what Bernie Glassman just did? Hutch knew where to buy heroin and how to prepare it. Countless times, he had been close to going to some seedy dive and scoring a bag of China white. Was he close enough to taste the sweet oblivion?

Every time he felt the urge, he ended up at Starsky’s door, and it didn’t matter if his partner was actually there to catch him when he was falling.

Before they had agreed to be housemates in Venice Place, all Hutch had to do was feel Starsky’s presence, his scent, his love. When Starsky moved in with him, Hutch didn’t even need to leave his home to get a fix of something more powerful than heroin. Starsky’s friendship took him higher than any drug ever could.

Now everything was different. Hutch’s priorities had changed -- as he was slowly discovering -- there was no tomorrow to consider, but he hadn’t taken that final step to using. He managed to do the right thing because of Starsky.

Hutch didn’t know how much time he sat above the Pacific, his feet hanging over the edge. He didn’t hear the approaching footsteps, just the angry waves at the bottom of the cliff. Starsky’s presence filled the space around him even before he felt Starsky’s hand on his shoulder.

“What Bernie did was wrong,” Hutch said, more to convince himself than because he believed it was the truth.

“It doesn’t matter.” Starsky sat next to him, facing the ocean. “It must have been the right solution for him. We all do things we think are right, even if they aren’t. That’s what makes our world worth living in.”

“Yeah,” Hutch said. Starsky never ceased to amaze him.

“Isn’t it wonderful that we can convince ourselves?” Starsky shifted so he could look at Hutch. “Convince ourselves that things make sense?”

“Sometimes they don’t,” Hutch said bitterly. “How did you find me?”

“How do I always find you?”

Hutch shook his head.

Starsky didn’t comment, just touched his arm. “You feel like talking?"

“No.” Hutch didn’t know what he wanted anymore. And it scared him.

“So listen.” Starsky didn’t let go. “The coroner confirmed it was an OD. We'll need to wait for ballistics, but I bet it was his gun that shot Caruso. I called... I called Bernie’s wife, but I couldn’t locate her. I drove to their house, and -- she’s dead, Hutch. She died two days ago. Heart failure.”

Hutch met his eyes. “It explains a lot.”

“We can’t be sure,” Starsky stated.

“We never will.”

“We’ve always had cases like this one,” Starsky whispered gently.

“That was a different life. A different world. Is there anything that hasn't changed, Starsk?” Hutch felt hopeless.

“Yes.” Starsky brushed his fingers through Hutch’s hair. “I’ll take you there.” He got up and held out his hand.

Hutch looked at the ocean for the last time, but the sea held no answers for him. The only answer stood by his side, so Hutch followed Starsky to his car.

Starsky was right. Dobey’s home hadn’t changed at all. Rosie’s bike -- although much bigger -- was still in the middle of the front yard, and Cal was walking out the door when they arrived.

“Hey, Cal!” Starsky greeted him. “Is your Dad home?”

Cal grinned. “He’s playing with Rosie.”

“Where’re you going?” Hutch asked curiously. Cal looked so different than others he had met recently. Cal looked really happy.

“I have a date.” He ran down the stairs and got into Dobey’s car.

“Youth...” Starsky laughed loudly.

Hutch wondered if he had ever been as young as Cal. He remembered that the first car he ever drove had been his grandfather’s. He had borrowed the ancient Ford for a date, and the scent of leather seats would always remind him of happy times that would never come back.

He felt Starsky’s hand on his back as they climbed the stairs. Starsky knocked at the door.

“Dave, Ken!” Edith exclaimed. “Come on in!”

Hutch hadn’t seen their Captain since he retired, but seeing him now -- looking peaceful and happy -- proved that it had been the right decision for him.

“Hello, boys,” Dobey greeted them from the backyard, where he was flying a kite with Rosie.

“I see your retirement keeps you busy.” Starsky followed Dobey to chairs in the corner of the small garden.

“I should have done it long time ago,” Dobey said with a hint of regret. “Are you two also planning to join the retirees?”

“Nope.” Starsky shook his head and sat next to the Captain.

Hutch also shook his head.

“I always wanted to spend more time with my kids, and not have to worry about their future.” Dobey watched Rosie trying to hold the kite in the air. There wasn’t enough wind to keep the kite aloft for long. “Now both my wishes have come true in a wicked way, haven't they?”

“So you don’t regret your decision to leave?” Hutch had to ask. He needed to know.

Edith brought out a tray with tea and cookies and left them to talk.

“How could I regret it?” Dobey answered, still watching his daughter. Rosie smiled at them every time she managed to get the kite airborne. “The only thing I do regret is that I waited so long.”

As if she knew they were talking about her, Rosie interrupted the adults to kidnap her favorite honorary uncles, towing Starsky and Hutch out to the front porch. She sat next to Hutch, showing off her latest drawings. She was a gifted artist at the local middle school and she often asked for Hutch’s advice when she wanted to try new techniques for class assignments.

“Dad says that we'll die and go to heaven soon,” she said, touching a beautiful illustration of angels climbing up a ladder to the clouds. “When the asteroid hits. We studied it in science class.”

Hutch knew it wasn’t possible to avoid discussing the collision with kids. The asteroid was everywhere -- in newspapers articles, on every TV program, obviously, even in the schools. Being a cop, he found it hard to believe in heaven, but he’d never quite given up the idea. How could he, with Starsky beside him?

“Your dad is right, Rosie,” Starsky admitted.

“Will you die, too?” She looked up at Starsky with a frown.

Starsky crouched next to her and reached for one of her pigtails. “Yes, I will.”

She regarded him thoughtfully. “Have you ever died before?”

Hutch froze, but Starsky didn’t even flinch. “Yes, I did.”

“Does it hurt?” She toyed with a blue crayon.

“Sometimes.” Starsky smiled.

“When?”

Starsky met Hutch’s eyes. “Only when you're alone.”

Hutch held his gaze, knowing exactly what he meant.

“You were alone?” Rosie inquired, still not satisfied.

“I was, but I won’t be this time.” Starsky pick up another one of her drawings. It was a successful attempt of Edith’s face.

“I won’t be alone either.” Rosie turned to Hutch. “Dad says we have to live to the fullest before we die.”

Hutch laughed against the threatening tears. Suddenly so many things made sense again. He had feared having to face the last moments more than death itself. Every time his life was threatened, he had been utterly alone. But no more.

“Are we too old for the swing?” Hutch proposed, pointing at the rope swing.

“Swinging!” She jumped up and ran toward the tree.

Starsky laughed when Rosie climbed onto the swing and kicked off with both long legs. He gave her a shove, sending her up into the blue sky, like an angel climbing to heaven.

Hutch watched them, really happy.

When they were driving home, Hutch had a feeling that he couldn’t name, as if the thought of death suddenly wasn’t dangerous territory anymore.

“Would you mind stopping by the church?” he asked, surprising himself.

Starsky glanced at him, but didn’t comment on the unusual request. He just nodded and changed direction.

At first, Hutch had no idea why he had a sudden urge to visit a church. He hadn’t gone to worship in years, even though he had never lost his faith. It was just hard to find peace in the formal ceremonies and words that he had learned by heart. He needed to _feel_ to actually commit himself to anything and no religion had ever given him the peace he craved. He believed in God, and right now he needed to meet Him in a special place.

Starsky killed the Torino’s engine in front of the Lutheran Church of Venice. It wasn’t far from their apartment. Hutch looked at Starsky, but didn’t know what to say.

“You want me to come with you?” Starsky asked, reading him easily.

“Would you?” Hutch bit his lip. “It won’t take long.” For some reason, it was suddenly _very_ important that Starsky would be there with him.

“Get out, buddy.” Starsky just smiled.

The church was cold and almost empty. Only a few people sat in the pews and a few candles were lit. The last rays of the afternoon sun streamed through stained glass windows, creating a surreal rainbow across the faces of the faithful.

Hutch stood at the door for a moment. Today he had to tell God something very important -- maybe the most important thing Hutch had ever told Him.

They walked down the aisle and stood in front of the altar. Hutch looked up at the wooden cross surrounded by flowers behind the altar. For the first time in his life, he actually had a _feeling_ of faith and tranquility inside a church. He knew the reason why. No prayers would be needed.

“Thank You for giving me Starsky,” he said simply.

He felt Starsky take his hand. Hutch held onto him and never wanted to let go.

* * *

The next day, Starsky died.

It started as normal as any other day, even considering the approaching end of the world.

“Come on, Ma,” Starsky said into the phone. “I want you to come out here, so we can be together.”

Hutch wasn’t surprised that Rachel had refused. She wanted Starsky to go back to New York, but Starsky was as stubborn as his mother. New York was one of the few cities where the airports were still offering more than emergency flights.

“Doesn’t matter what it will cost, Ma,” Starsky pleaded. “Your friends will understand.”

Hutch finished cleaning up after their late breakfast and sat on the sofa, waiting for Starsky to end the phone call.

“Bye, Ma,” Starsky said sadly. “We have to leave for work.” He hung up, his shoulders slumped.

“You didn’t really expect her to agree.” Hutch got up.

“Nah.” Starsky shrugged. “Come on, we have a job to do.” Hutch tugged his shirt and Starsky’s face brightened.

When they arrived at work, Captain Kira Jones stood in the doorway of her office to address the detectives in the squadroom. “In just a few days, there will be no reason for arrest reports -- they’ll just be so much flammable paper. Get out on the streets to keep the peace.”

“I wonder why it took so long for them to figure that out,” Starsky commented.

“There's nobody left to read the reports anyway.” Hutch grinned at him, happy with the new procedure or rather the lack of procedure regarding reports. Patrolling the streets would be easier now.

Two hours later Starsky noticed the commotion at Baker and Son’s Jewelry break-in first and slammed on the brakes, stopping the car at the curb. Hutch jumped out, pulling his gun. A masked man was strangling a shop assistant while three more thieves were stealing gold chains from the shop window. The street was empty and there were no bystanders to witness the robbery.

“What are they going to do with all this gold?” Starsky panted, running to the jewelry shop.

“Maybe they just want to feel rich for a short time?” Hutch answered, keeping up with him.

Two against four wasn’t that unusual, but an unseen fifth man hidden behind the counter made the difference. Hutch pulled a thief off the old owner, and delivered a quick punch in the jaw. Two of the men ransacking the window attacked, and Hutch retaliated, kicking the first one and putting an elbow in the second one’s belly.

He left Starsky to deal with the robber holding the bag of gold. “Stop!” Starsky yelled. “You’re under arrest.”

The young man jerked, dropping the bag of necklaces in the doorway.

In the middle of the fight, Hutch saw the fifth man creep up behind Starsky. Hutch’s struggle with two of the thieves took precious seconds too long. One of the thieves, a dark-haired man, ran out of the shop and Starsky tripped on the gold chains scattered all over the floor, hitting his head against the wall.

Hutch cold-cocked his opponent with the butt of his Magnum and cuffed his hands behind his back. “You’re under arrest, jackass,” he growled, looking around for Starsky.

“He’s over here!” the old jewelry maker cried, pointing to Starsky who was lying on his back.

Hutch dropped to his knees. Starsky was not moving at all. The fifth robber was nowhere to be found, but Hutch remembered seeing the man put a stranglehold on Starsky right before his partner tripped.

Hutch touched Starsky’s chest -- his heart was still beating, but he wasn’t getting any air; his lips were turning blue. Hutch felt as if he were the one who couldn’t breathe. The blood on Starsky’s temple only added to the image of a corpse.

_No, no, no, no, no!_ This couldn’t be happening!

Hutch braced himself and repositioned Starsky’s head to give him rescue breathing. How many times had he done this in the past? Too many. The last time was in the police department parking lot. Hutch still had nightmares about that morning. He hadn’t been alone there, he’d had help from other cops, but now Hutch felt more alone than ever, as if everybody were leaving him -- even Starsky.

_No!_

Hutch leaned down and sealed Starsky’s lips with his own, breathing into Starsky’s lungs. Hutch gave four more breaths before sliding two fingers down Starsky’s neck to check if there were still signs of life.

Hutch was relieved to still find a pulse in the hollow of Starsky’s neck. He would never let _him_ go! Hutch needed Starsky to live. He needed Starsky more than the air he was breathing. The air he was supposed to share with his friend. Determined, Hutch bent over Starsky to deliver another round of rescue breathing.

With the third breath, Starsky flinched and coughed. Hutch realized he had tears in his eyes, because he couldn’t see Starsky clearly.

“Hutch?” Starsky rasped, trying to sit up and holding his neck.

“Stay still,” Hutch held him down, feeling dizzy. Rescue breathing takes a lot out of you.

Starsky regarded him, coughing. He inhaled several times and coughed again before he could breathe freely. He looked around the jewelry shop and back to Hutch.

“I wasn’t alone this time,” he whispered.

Hutch blinked the tears away, and slumped down next to him. He still wasn’t sure what had just happened. If this was one of his usual nightmares, for once it had a happy ending. He was tired of these nightmares -- no matter if he was sleeping or awake when they happened.

“You okay?” he asked. His voice was calm and strangely cold, as if it wasn’t his.

Starsky touched his throat again and nodded cautiously.

Hutch got to his feet and held out his hand for Starsky. Starsky stood up with his help, looking at him sheepishly.

“I’m sorry, Hutch,” he said almost soundlessly.

“Sorry?” Hutch looked at him incredulously. He knew, he felt it in his entire self, that he just reached a point of no return. He had never before met his limit, but this felt like some kind of enlightenment.

“Don’t you ever dare to stop breathing on me again! Ever!” he whispered angrily and furiously pinned Starsky to the wall. What had just happened wasn’t Starsky’s fault, but Hutch didn’t care.

Starsky blinked in surprise, still not steady enough to stand on his own, but Hutch held his arms tight.

They just looked at each other. Hutch let his overwhelming anger, fear, and desperation overtake him. He hated this whole asteroid mess. More than anything else, he wanted to scream, to fight, and to _win_ in the end as they always had before, but that was not possible this time. There was no way out for any of them.

The only thing he could do was put his hand over Starsky’s heart and wait, still gazing into his eyes. He didn’t know why he was doing it. A need to feel Starsky’s heartbeat? Starsky didn’t push him away. He let Hutch take whatever he needed. Hutch waited until Starsky’s heart rate slowed and his own heart adjusted to match Starsky’s rhythm.

He touched Starsky’s lips with his fingers -- warm and alive -- and took a deep breath. “We are leaving,” Hutch said firmly. “No way am I going to lose you even one second before... before it’s over.”

“Hutch...” Starsky shook his head.

“No!” Hutch stabbed Starsky on the chest with his finger and Starsky winced. “I have the right to spend the last days of my life the way I want to, and you are _not_ taking this right from me!”

“I’m not trying to... I just...”

Hutch tightened his grip on his shoulder. “We. Are. Leaving.”

“Okay.” Starsky nodded and looked at the old jewelry maker and the remaining thief.

“I’ll call for back up; we're going to the hospital,” Hutch stated in a tone that brooked no argument.

“Hutch.” Starsky wouldn’t be Starsky if he didn’t try, even though his voice was barely a whisper.

“I won’t negotiate about your life.” Hutch didn’t relent. “What if he...?”

“‘M fine.” Starsky tried to pull his arm out of Hutch’s grasp, but he didn’t succeed.

“Yeah, you sound fine,” Hutch observed sarcastically. “And what about the blood and bruises?” He nodded at Starsky’s neck, where dark spots were already showing.

“Okay.” Starsky finally gave up.

Hutch winced. Even Starsky knew when to stop arguing with him when he was angry. Hutch helped him to the car and called for backup. They didn’t have to wait long before a pair of uniformed cops showed up to take the thief into custody. Starsky didn’t protest anymore and gave his report to the other cops. Hutch bid the jewelry maker goodbye when and the uniforms took over.

The journey to the hospital was done in silence. Hutch was still too angry, although he had no idea why. He knew that Starsky’s throat must hurt after being almost suffocated, but Starsky was alive and that was the only thing that mattered.

Starsky rested his hand on Hutch’s shoulder and didn’t move until they arrived at the ER. The hospital was short staffed, but it didn’t even take two hours for the exam and treatment. The doctor released Starsky with a caution to monitor his concussion and drink tea with honey for his bruised throat.

“Take it easy for a few days,” Dr. Anderson said. “And avoid speaking unless necessary.”

Hutch laughed. “That'll be impossible for Starsky.”

They left the hospital -- Hutch feeling relieved.

“We're going back to the station,” Starsky said hoarsely when they got back into the car.

Hutch glanced at him. “Just to tell Kira we're resigning,” he said firmly.

“What else?” Starsky mouthed. Even if it was their last shift, it would be a last _real_ shift.

* * *

A few hours later, Hutch checked on his partner for the umpteenth time to make sure he was really okay. Starsky was lying on the couch watching TV.

A grim man on the screen was claiming, _“I don’t believe in this crap. This is just some scheme to get into our heads. I tell you, there is no comet out there.”_

“You know it will only get worse, right?” Hutch turned the TV off. The news was not encouraging. The countdown to the collision was everywhere; he didn’t need more reminders.

“They lost hope, Hutch.” Starsky shook his head and sat up. “Nobody cares when there's no hope.”

Hutch felt the familiar pain around his heart, and slumped next to his friend. He squeezed Starsky’s wrist. “The worst thing is that I understand them.” He looked up at the ceiling. After today’s events, he understood too well. He didn’t know what he would do if Starsky...

“I know you do.” Starsky nodded. “But it doesn’t make what they're doing right.”

Hutch looked at the telescope Starsky purchased from the sports store. The store employee had told him it was the last one on the shelf. Telescopes were a popular item lately. People everywhere wanted to see the asteroid that would destroy Earth as it came closer. Hutch wondered if it was a kind of masochism or just curiosity.

He and Starsky had spent the last three hours watching the night sky. Hutch marveled at the celestial majesty, the tranquility of the stars stretched above him. He hadn’t once looked to the east where the asteroid was approaching. Hutch loved every minute of star gazing with Starsky, but when clouds had scuttled across the sky, he and Starsky walked back into the apartment.

“Did you change your mind? Do you want to go back tomorrow?” Hutch asked the question that bothered him since they cleared the scene after the robbery.

“No,” Starsky said calmly. “I -- I don’t want to,” he added, a bit hesitantly.

“You want to talk about it?” He noticed that Starsky had been thoughtful and unusually quiet since they left the hospital, even considering the condition of his throat.

“I was scared.” Starsky closed his eyes. “Hutch, I was never that scared, even... when I was shot. Or in the hospital. Or when... you were hurt. It was different. I -- I can’t take it for granted anymore. Here I thought that I -- I still had nine days to live... and suddenly I didn’t. I would have died if you hadn’t been there. I felt cheated.”

Hutch also felt cheated. He should have had nine days to spend with Starsky and he had lost a few precious minutes with him. No, he wouldn’t change the decision about quitting.

“But I was the one who decided we should leave,” he said slowly. “That’s not how we work. We're partners.”

Starsky rested his head against Hutch’s shoulder. “And that’s what we did. It was also my decision.”

Hutch regarded him intently. Starsky was serious. There was another question that had to be asked. “Do you want to leave Bay City? Go some place you’ve never visited?”

Starsky smiled warmly. “No, it would only take me farther from you, and this is my home. You are.”

Not knowing what to say, Hutch took his hand. “I think you should go to sleep. It’s late and you were injured today. I’m going to take a shower in the meanwhile.”

“Yes, Mom.” Starsky agreed in exasperation, but didn’t move. He curled onto his side, pulled an afghan over him, and picked up a novel from the coffee table. The unfinished model ship was still waiting for attention on the table. “Just enough time to finish this book I’ve been reading, maybe catch a movie at the Rivoli,” he stated contently.

Hutch just shook his head.

Starsky was sleeping on the couch when Hutch came out of the bathroom. The open book was resting on his chest and he was snoring. Hutch smiled affectionately. He picked up the book with the intention of putting it away, but the title caught his attention. _The Little Prince?_ Two paragraphs in the middle of the page stopped him.

_As the little prince dropped off to sleep, I took him in my arms and set out walking once more. I felt deeply moved, and stirred. It seemed to me that I was carrying a very fragile treasure. It seemed to me, even, that there was nothing more fragile on all Earth. In the moonlight I looked at his pale forehead, his closed eyes, his locks of hair that trembled in the wind, and I said to myself: “What I see here is nothing but a shell. What is most important is invisible...”_

_As his lips opened slightly with the suspicious of a half-smile, I said to myself, again: “What moves me so deeply, about this little prince who is sleeping here, is his loyalty to a flower -- the image of a rose that shines through his whole being like the flame of a lamp, even when he is asleep...” And I felt him to be more fragile still. I felt the need of protecting him, as if he himself were a flame that might be extinguished by a little puff of wind..._

Hutch sat down on the table and closed his eyes. He knew exactly what the hero of the story felt. Was there anything he wouldn’t do to save Starsky? He would die for Starsky if that could save his friend, but he couldn’t do even that much now.

Hutch pulled the afghan around Starsky, and went to bed himself.


	5. The One When Everybody Dies (Or Not)

Hutch woke up late in the morning. For a moment, he just lay there, looking at the sky through the window. The mere fact that Starsky was up before him was enough to make this day special. Tomorrow would be Hutch’s birthday -- if there was a tomorrow.

But there wouldn’t be.

He would never be hundred and forty-eight as he had jokingly claimed a few years ago. Hutch swallowed hard, feeling more scared than ever.

It was so quiet outside. No cars, no traffic. Hutch suspected that most people had stayed home just as Starsky and he had decided to do.

He sat up, listening to the sounds Starsky was making in the kitchen. Slowly, he walked to the bathroom and took a long, hot shower. He couldn’t shave, because his hands shook so much that it made the task impossible without damaging his face. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, feeling too old and too young at the same time. He didn’t want to dwell on these mixed feelings, and went into the kitchen to have breakfast.

Starsky was setting the table. He grinned at Hutch. Leaning against the wall-partition, Hutch felt his heart warm suddenly at the sight of Starsky. All his lingering fear drained away and Hutch smiled.

“Morning, Sunshine,” Starsky greeted cheerfully.

“Are we celebrating something?” Hutch asked, curious.

Starsky looked up. “Of course we are. It’s your birthday.”

“No, it isn’t.”

Starsky crossed the kitchen floor and tore off two pages from the calendar. “Wrong,” he said. “It is. See?” He held the 27th of August up for Hutch.

Hutch looked at the dreaded date as Starsky crumpled the page and threw it away. Now it was 28th of August. Hutch took a step forward to put his arms around Starsky’s shoulders.

“Thanks,” he whispered into Starsky’s hair.

“Happy Birthday, Hutch.” Starsky hugged him. “Now, sit down and eat your vegetables.” He ruffled Hutch’s hair.

But it was more than just vegetables. The salad Starsky prepared was the best Hutch had ever had -- cauliflower with butter and beans, and exactly the right amount of sugar -- an old Polish recipe that Starsky’s mother always prepared when Starsky visited her in New York. Hutch had never felt as peaceful as he did at this moment.

“Do you have any specific plans for today?” Hutch asked when they finished.

“Yup.” Starsky nodded and went to the sink to wash the dishes. He turned on the water and added dish soap until the sink was overflowing with bubbles.

“You know you don’t have to do the dishes,” Hutch said amused.

Starsky looked at him with a serious expression. “I won’t change who I am just because the world ends tonight.”

Hutch sat motionless for a moment, and then walked up behind him and slid his arms around Starsky’s waist. “I count on that, pal,” he said, holding him close.

Starsky shook his head, smiling, but didn’t try to free himself. He dunked the plates into the soapy water.

“What now?” Hutch asked when Starsky had dried the last fork and draped the dish towel over the edge of the counter to dry.

Starsky turned his head to look at him. “I’m going to finish the ship,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What?” Hutch blinked, surprised.

“I've waited too long to complete it, and can’t postpone it anymore, can I? Are you going to help me?”

“You are crazy.”

“It takes one to know one.” Starsky slid out of his embrace and went to the living room.

A little stunned, Hutch followed him. He sat down on the opposite side of the table from Starsky. Starsky handed over two dowels, one short, one long. “This is the main mast,” he explained. “Glue those together and I’ll finish rigging the sail to attach to that.”

“This one goes in the middle?” Hutch asked, examining the model ship that had occupied their table for over a month now.

“Yup,” Starsky confirmed.

Hutch always liked to watch Starsky piece together the tiny sections of the models. So intricate and fine. He helped sometimes, but he had no patience for the detailed work for long. Today wasn’t any different. After an hour, Hutch reached for his sketchbook.

Drawing Starsky was a pleasure but also a challenge. Starsky was never still; he was always moving. It had taken Hutch years to master drawing his partner. Starsky didn’t mind being his model, although sometimes he openly challenged being sketched in a certain way. Usually, he just kept doing whatever he was busy with -- right now painting the frame of the ship. Hutch loved trying to capture certain moments on paper. This whole day was worth saving -- remembering -- forever.

Starsky insisted on a break for lunch, and then he returned to positioning the figurehead on the front of his ship. Hutch played his guitar for a while, singing all of John Denver’s tunes, and then launching into Simon and Garfunkel. Starsky particularly liked _Bridge Over Troubled Water_.

“When you’re down and out, when you’re feeling low...” Hutch sang, reflecting that the song perfectly fit his mood. “I’m on your side, if you need a friend...”

The day passed slowly. Hutch felt wrapped in a protective cocoon of friendship, shielded from the fear that had gripped the city.

Dinner was simple -- there wasn’t much in the house. The stores were no longer stocking much food, but canned soup was still plentiful. Hutch warmed up tomato soup. Starsky toasted the last of the sliced bread and put some cheese on top. Lighting a candle, Hutch said a quiet prayer, thinking about the afternoon in the Lutheran church.

After dinner, Hutch resumed working on the sketch of Starsky. He shaded in the last curls, and added a slight accent to the lines around Starsky’s smile, finally satisfied.

Starsky looked at Hutch and held up a tiny piece of cloth. Before he could place the last sail in place, Hutch grasped Starsky’s hand.

Starsky frowned. It only took him a second to realize what Hutch meant to do. The last thing they would ever do together.

Except for dying.

Hutch could see the same fear he felt mirrored in Starsky’s eyes. The same burning anger at being trapped here -- at being so helpless from _doing_ something to fight their inevitable future.

Starsky let him take all the time he needed. They sat on opposite sides of the table, with the almost-finished model ship between them. Starsky waited until they were both ready to let go of what they had been over the last forty years; so little time and so much struggling.

Hutch released Starsky’s hand and Starsky skillfully attached the sail to the ship.

_Queen Anne’s Revenge_ was finished.

“That’s it.” Starsky met Hutch’s eyes, as lost as Hutch felt.

“What do you want to do?” Hutch asked.

“Live?” For Starsky there was only one answer.

“How?” Hutch’s heart skipped a beat.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

Hutch glanced at the model ship. “Now?”

“Do you want to wait for... to stay here?”

“I want to be where you are.” The alternative was unthinkable.

Starsky got up and nodded at the door. Hutch didn’t hesitate for a second. He would have followed him to the end of the world. Literally. They didn’t lock the door. The model ship and the drawings were left behind as their entire life. Hutch didn’t put his holster on and Starsky didn’t take his gun. There was no point.

They weren’t the only people who chose to spend their remaining time on the beach, but no one was paying attention to anyone else. Hutch reached for Starsky’s hand and squeezed tightly. He needed to feel that warmth, even though the evening was warm and almost perfect. Starsky smiled and Hutch didn’t let go. They walked in silence and just enjoyed the company.

The evening was peaceful. Only a few people walked past them. Some of them were alone, some with friends. No families though.

Hutch had never seen such a beautiful sunset, but then again, he had never before been able to walk down the beach at sunset with Starsky’s hand in his own.

For a brief moment, he wondered where his parents were, if they were still alive, but they had chosen their path. Hutch found peace with their choice. He had the rest of his family right by his side.

The impact was supposed to happen a few minutes after nine, California time, but Hutch wasn’t afraid anymore. The initial doubt, comprehension, panic, denial, and acceptance, all those states of mind, had come and gone in the last few weeks. There was no escape. Fear had to go, too, if he wanted to remain sane.

The moment the scientists announced that Earth wouldn’t be as lucky as if had been every other year, the population of Earth learned there would be no shooting stars this summer, just death and destruction. This was one of the reasons Hutch didn’t dwell on the scientific announcements. He couldn’t fight the inevitable.

Only a week ago, a somber-faced anchor woman from Channel 5 News had reported, _“Tonight NASA has confirmed that we have only 7 days until the asteroid hits. Scientists are working on a rocket that could be shot at the asteroid to divert its course and, they hope, send it harmlessly into space.”_

It hadn’t worked.

One part of Hutch’s mind wanted it to be over, and the other part wanted to treasure every second he still had.

Forever.

Against all odds, he’d had the chance to make his last days on Earth what he wanted them to be. That was a gift.

At least they knew when death would occur. Unlike two years ago, when Starsky almost died. Hutch had been totally unprepared. The medical staff called what Starsky had “ _a cardiac arrest_.” Hutch had called it “ _the end of the world_.” That was a reality he would never understand.

He and Starsky stopped walking when the sun had almost disappeared below the horizon. Hutch turned to Starsky; he didn’t want to witness the end of the world; he only wanted to look at the most important person in his life.

Starsky closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them, he met Hutch’s eyes and Hutch held his hand tighter. He pulled Starsky toward one of the trees at the edge of the beach and they sat down. Hutch leaned against the trunk, and Starsky rested against his chest. Hutch put his arms around Starsky.

“I didn’t expect it to be so... quiet,” Starsky said.

“Guess people have already said all they had to say.” Hutch shrugged.

Starsky shook his head as if still in wonder at what was happening around them.

“Hutch?” he whispered.

“Hmm?”

“Did you... do you think there will be a tomorrow? Somewhere?” he asked almost reverently.

Hutch cursed quietly. He didn’t want to face anymore questions. Not now. “Starsk.”

“Hey.” Starsky grasped his hand tightly enough to hurt him. “‘S important.” He put their intertwined hands over his heart.

Hutch bowed his head and tried to find some answer inside his hopeless soul. “No.” He looked up finally. “No, I don’t believe in tomorrow. Not anymore.”

Starsky met his eyes. “I do.”

Two words and it felt as if the world had fallen out from under Hutch’s feet. He suddenly wanted to scream.

Starsky didn’t move; he just waited, looking at Hutch as if Hutch could decide the future of the whole universe.

Hutch knew Starsky wouldn’t have been Starsky if he hadn’t said these two words.

“Enough for us both?” Hutch asked, his throat tightening.

Starsky nodded.

“How? How can you still have so much faith?” Hutch blinked with admiration. For the last thirteen years, he had tried to find the answer and never succeeded.

Starsky smiled gently. “You want me to show you?”

“Sure.”

“I love you.”

Hutch never thought that you could miss the end of the world, but somehow they did.

**THE END**


End file.
